Language and the lizard brain

From New Adventures in Web Design, 2010, and re-purposed in part for Ampersand web typography, Brighton, 2011.

Transcript

3. Analog, Mapalong, Fontdeck — still likes Toblerone — used to have hair.
4. CRT to LCD to LED. CRT also sometimes know as the ‘Braun tube’ after German physicist and Nobel Laureate, Ferdinand Braun, who invented the earliest version in 1897.
5. Web font service
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16. Hehehe…
17. I love language. Latin lingua, ‘language, tongue’. 3000–6000 languages are spoken by humans today. Natural languages can be based on visual stimuli like sign language and written language. Code is an artificially constructed communication system. Dan Rubin: ‘Language Matters’ ‘The absence of words have power.’
18. Gut reactions. Instincts. So few words, so many emotions.
19. Aftermath of Bon Om Touk Festival where 400 people died — Rainbow Bridge, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 22nd Nov 2010 —Guardian Eyewitness from Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty
20. Muharram (month on mourning in remembrance of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed) — New Dehli. 18 Dec 2010. Guardian Eyewitness
21. WALL•E had no dialogue until 22 minutes into the film.
22. Type can convey emotion, sometimes in contrast to the actual meaning on the words: “Hate” in Malay — Bello by Underware
23. Type can convey emotion, sometimes in contrast to the actual meaning on the words: “Love” in Malay — Graveblade by Typodermic
24. HTML 4.01 — 16 named colours. CSS3 — 78 X11 color names standardised in SVG 1.0 with gray/grey variants. New displays with 32-bit colour — 4.2 billion distinct colours (with some non-colour elements like alpha).
25. Blue Note from 1956–1967. 11 years. Almost 500 sleeves. Photos by Francis Wolff. Reid Miles was an avid fan of classical music but not of jazz. “Alfred Lion simply described the mood and intent of each album, and Miles went to work.” Music is a great example of how we react emotionally Association with a memory - often can’t remember artist / title Musical notation is the language of music. (That and metaphor; awkward to categorise.)
27. ‘Although there is no absolute separation between language and emotion, there will still be countless instances where you have emotional response without verbal input or linguistic cognition. In general, language is not necessary for emotion.‘ — Dr. Mazviita Chirimuuta, neuroscientist. Also see the paper: ‘The neural code for written words’ by Stanislas Dehaene
28. Meaning in the milliseconds: We have a measurable, emotional reaction to a face within 40ms without even consciously ever remembering seeing it.
29. ‘Don’t think, FEEL.’ Seth Godin has written and spoken about ‘kill the lizard brain’. Nooo! Seth Vs. Bruce Lee; who do you wanna be?
30. 1,000 Icons, Symbols + Pictograms: Visual Communication For Every Language. The designers’ tongue. Our language. Visual communication.
31. Ian Coyle. Din Display Pro by Parachute.
32. Frank Chimero, Trent Walton, and Dave Rupert. ‘Mid-century, Las Vegas, Johnny Quest inspired journey to the bubble city at the bottom of the city.’
33. Jason Santa Maria, Trent Walton, Dave Rupert and Kevin Cornel. ‘Sometime in the not too distant future with a retro-future style‘ — Jason
34. Some sites we love for their utility, but elements like copywriting still lend them personality.
35. Utility: Site you never visit. Different kind of design principles for the web: #mydatanotyours via Jon Hicks.
36. Built using only data from 3rd party web services. Distributed narrative?
37. Arial for utility.
38. The best shirts are the ones that look great from a distance, but the closer you get, the better they get. Mark Boulton: ‘Bind the content to the device’