The power of words

As a designer and editor, the power of communication with words holds special fascination for me. Words can influence and tell a story. They can conjure up mental images and bring our memories to mind. They can cause us to laugh and to cry. Truly, words are a key aspect of the communication spectrum.

William Shakespeare wrote in his famous play Romeo and Juliet,

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.”

In this quote, Shakespeare’s character was implying that names don’t change the essence of what something or someone physically is. True, if my name was Julie or Jane instead of Tiffany, it wouldn’t make me a different person. But names—words—do affect the communication of who I am.

Just as books and speeches naturally rely heavily on words, so also visual design uses words to help convey meaning. Designers, though, use the shape and look of a word in addition to the meaning of it. This is a vital aspect of graphic design, because the misuse of typefaces in a design can completely contradict the visual message that’s intended.

As a designer, I must be continually aware of the dual meaning that words in my designs convey—the word’s meaning itself and the visual meaning or effect of the word. To a certain extent, though, everyone needs to be aware of this. Hopefully, the following exercise will help you to see that visual communication can either lend to or take away from a word’s actual meaning! The exercise is actually very similar to one I did in a college typography class.

Take a look at the three words listed below. Then, download and print the PDF worksheet file by clicking here.

—lontano (Italian word)
—Glatt (German word)
—Arrugarse (Spanish word)

Sources:
http://thinkexist.com/romeo_and_juliet_quotes/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_rose_by_any_other_name_would_smell_as_sweet