Monotype and Field's interactive installations show us the unappreciated beauty in the future of fonts

Typeface specialists Monotype and digital art studio Field have approached fonts in a new way, with interactive displays at Cannes Lions, Resonate Festival in Belgrade, and le Book, Paris. Collectively named Type Reinvented, the three installations include Sensual Power, Responsive Energy and Glyph.Index, and as they explore typography’s interaction with space, craftsmanship and different languages, they provide a mesmerising spectacle – even for those who know nothing about fonts.

“Working with Monotype’s Creative Director James Fooks-Bale, we spent several months consulting and developing ideas for research and showcase projects – for how typography can and should reinvent itself to truly live up to the potential of digital formats, “ explains Vera-Maria Glahn, Field’s Managing Director. “By making type dynamic and interactive, audio-visual and narrative, functional and playful, we wanted to amplify the subtle but strong information that type design carries 'between the lines' – style, values, emotion, identity.”

By exploring ways that we can use smart technology to respond to the increasing density of information we encounter day to day, the project aims to show how digital design should be accessible, intuitive and responsive in order to accommodate changing demands and bring data to life.

The interactive compositions draw attention to familiar typefaces that we often take for granted as we encounter them from the moment we wake up, and almost constantly throughout the day.  

As smart phones and wearable tech allow us to consume an ever-greater amount of information, new ways of presenting it are being developed. Yesterday we looked at Project Seen, a typeface that censors itself in response to internet surveillance.