My concept was to demonstrate that expressive typography can bring meaning to a word, even if you don’t know the exact meaning of it.
I started by exploring the english language through the dictionary and online resources trying to come up with words that I could create my type expressions from. I stumbled upon The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig and discovered beautifully sounding words and even more stunning definitions. He created this dictionary of invented words, each one with the aim to fill a gap in language and give a name to emotions humans feel but do not have words for. I thought this was a great resource for me as they were words the people don’t necessarily know already— I can use type to convey their meaning.
Sonder
n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.
Ambedo
n. a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details—raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees leaning in the wind, clouds of cream swirling in your coffee—which leads to a dawning awareness of the haunting fragility of life.
