Typography Design’s New Trajectory Towards Visual Literacy for Digital Mediums

Abstract

Typographic elements have a huge impact on how designed mediums affect visual literacy. This paper reviews the principles, perspectives and approaches in the production and function of typographic design visual media (print and digital), with the aim to understand the relationship between typographic design on digital mediums, with the aim of examining its influence on people’s ability to communicate ideas, meaning and messages effectively, while reflecting on its commercial implications for brands and marketers. Research via survey and a focus group implied there is a positive association between literacy and the application of graphic design and typography on digital communication mediums. Findings revealed that type design complements textual word elements to enhance cognition and understanding of messages. The integration of visual and texts facilitates reading, and for digital mediums, both legible layout and engaging typefaces are equally crucial. Graphic typeface for digital media, from smartphones to e-texts for learning, should apply visual hierarchy arrangement to achieve these objectives. Findings show typographic design is an essential aspect of social communication today, and digital designers play a fundamental role to enable audiences to improve their economic and social participation and gain its full advantages.