The Untitled Project — A World Without Type

Written by Dyana Weissman on March 20, 2004

Often, type enthusiasts find themselves plagued by a sickness that disables them to look at any type without overanalyzing it. We can’t look at a sign without critiquing its kerning. Nor can we flip through a magazine without identifying all the typefaces in the advertise-ments. We can’t even read a book without noticing a faulty ‘s’ and then considering the baseline of the rest of the font.

Enter Matt Siber’s The Untitled Project, potential relief from this affliction (as wonderful as it is).

The Untitled Project is a series of photographs of urban settings accompanied by a graphical text layout. The photographs have been digitally stripped of all traces of textual information. The text pieces show the removed text in the approximate location and font as it was found in the photograph.


He goes on to write in his project statement:

The Untitled Project is rooted in a base interest in the nature of power … The absence of the printed word not only draws attention to the role text plays in the modern landscape but also simultaneously emphasizes alternative forms of communication such as symbols, colors, architecture and corporate branding. In doing this, it serves to point out the growing number of ways in which public voices communicate without using traditional forms of written language.

Definitely interesting thoughts to consider. However, in my opinion, the execution is lacking. While I understand that Mr. Siber’s background is in photography and not design, I still feel he may have benefitted from the input of a graphic designer.

Some points to ponder:

Why did he not match all the typefaces? For instance, from the highway signs, he could have used Interstate or Highway Gothic, but he chose not to. Maybe he doesn’t have a license for those faces, but he could use the type from the photo he took.

While the artist chose to mimic the angles of most of type, he left some of them inexplicably flat. I’d like to see it all one way or the other.

And the images. At first, I felt my brain relaxing as it looked at the world, instead of kicking into Type Mode and analyzing the fonts. But then I realized, are all of the photos that good at making the average person aware that there is no type? What if he left the photos by themselves, without the text accompanying it? Would they stand up as well? They rely so much on the adjoining text image and that makes them weaker. Some of the photos could have been chosen more carefully. While I can appreciate the subtlety, I would also like to see something that considers how the text in the adjoining side would be placed. A truly good work of art has to funktion on many levels.

The Untitled Project is a great concept, but I feel like I’ve seen it before — perhaps a similar project from when I was in school, or is there already another take on this notion in the art world?

Thanks to Gregory Cadars for the tip.

See also: a typeless signage project by Constantin Demner :: Delete! Delettering the Public Space

Dyana Weissman is the Director of Custom Type at Type Network. She has been a presenter at ATypI, TypeCon, and PromaxBDA. When not making fonts, she is hiking somewhere in the world and sharing her adventures.

13 Comments

  1. I think the artist misses a big point in the results of his nifty experiment. What was most revealing to me is that I found the typeless images strangely appealing. I think a lot of people (not just type freaks, as Dyana describes) would feel the same. This new urban landscape becomes a refuge from a barrage of messages, the advertisements transform from sales tools into something more like art. As much as the type lover in me hates to admit it, I think the project is a comment on our world of mass marketing, a world of too much type.

  2. Yes, I wonder. With the right images, this project could be very interesting – without the text pieces at all. It might make the viewer question what was there? I think that would have been more powerful.

    On the other hand, I would like to see (as I wrote – this is to clarify) images that do take the placement of the type into consideration more – so that the text piece is a nice composition, rather than merely a map of what you’re missing.

  3. Colin Hartnett says:

    I agree with Stephen. I found the typeless environments strangely refreshing. There are just too many messages forced down our throats everywhere.

    I also found it unfortunate that the creator didn’t try to match the type a bit better, as if the only thing that matters is the relative location of the type (which, as Dyana pointed out, isn’t always correct or consistent, either).

    The images emerge as the much stronger part of this experiment.










  4. Graham Hicks says:

    While the artist chose to mimic the angles of most of type, he left some of them inexplicably flat.

    I believe that he removed perspective, but tried to leave any type that was set on an angle at that angle.

    I agree that the mismatch of typefaces is disappointing. I think another alternative would be to use a single, relatively neutral typeface for everything.

    It’s definitely an interesting concept though. I remember hearing that removing all type (and more specifically branding) from your living space was a good way to create a more relaxing environment. I don’t know if it’s true (and it seems kind of blasphemous saying it here), but it seems like it would work. Less type means less for your brain to process.

  5. I think this is a great piece of work. It’s like some sort of sci-fi alternate universe. Certain sci-fi films had/have some future typography sense: 2001 and the computer system screens; Blade Runner and the advertizing displays in all shapes and sizes, (plus the micro type details in the magnification scenes). But other movies had no clue, like Star Wars, or most of the Star Trek movies and shows – and this is what these pictures look like. Like some sort of illiterate dystopia.

    F*!K! I sound like a damned intellectual! I hate that!

  6. LOKi says:

    I’ve definitely seen this before in work by a Canadian photographer who stripped the type from his photos of suburban landscapes. I remember first seeing it in adbusters and realisisng that it was a photo of a street corner not far from where I lived in Toronto, it was eerie seeing ti without type.

    But just because it’s been done before… I still think it is a really interesting idea, but agree about some of the flaws in execution. Personally, I would have liked the choice of photographs to be stronger, more resonant and perhaps agree that the type be rendered uniformly, in order to emphasise the semantic recognition rather than the visual iconography….

  7. I think this is very interesting. I noticed there were certain elements still present that straddle the line between typographic and pictorial, such as the McDonald’s M/arches, the Volkswagen logo, and the Hooter’s double-O. There were also some pictographic images which might qualify as typographic such as the no smoking symbol, the Target logo and various arrows. Finally, the phantom outline of the Lay’s logotype is problematic. All in all, I think it’s difficult to draw the line.

  8. Armin says:

    This is quite interesting. Execution aside, because it could definitely be better. As opposed to most of the comments here so far, I focused on the text-only pages� it’s amazing to see the “layouts” that came up. Would make any Cranbrook graduate (or Weingart follower) from the 90s so jealous.

  9. nick shinn says:

    Rephotography: A present day photographer takes an “identical” picture (position, exposure, focal length etc) as an old classic, and they are presented side by side.

    In the 19th century, street signage was almost exclusively lettering, with very little in the way of “images”.

  10. Jacques Le Bailly says:

    During my studies I experimented similarly with photos too. But I tried too change all typographical information into ONE typeface!

    greetings,
    —Jacques

  11. I think that the lacks that all of you mentioned it�s owed to the fact that he is an ARTIST not a designer. He don�t see the tupographic stuff like us. In any case he can putted a photo on the left side without types and on the right side the same photo with types and without the photographic elements in the way he did in the other side.
    At the end of the last year begun the call for entries of the LAUS (the most important design awards in spain). The concept was very similar, an responds to what Colin says at the end of his post.

  12. Norman Hathaway says:

    No mention of http://lutz-verlag.ch/edmonton/

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