As part of my final year typography module at uni, we were tasked with exploring typography through a chosen episode from the BBC podcast Short Cuts by Josie Long. I chose an episode the deep sea, where Josie interviews a saturation diver- a highly dangerous and specialised type of engineering where divers descend to the bottom of the sea bed to work on things like pipelines and oil rigs. In order to survive at such depths, they have to remain inside a pressurised tank until the job is complete.
My response to the brief was to create a conceptual motion based exhibition on saturation diving for the Science Museum London. This included branding and promoting the exhibition. I named it DESCEND.
Descend
An deep-sea exploration of typography
Typography, motion graphics, experiential design, event branding, poster design
The aim was to create the experience of descending into the deep. The challenge was to combine the two seemingly unrelated worlds of saturation diving and typography. But what I learned is that typography does not just communicate through what words directly say. It can convey different levels of emotion and nuance through its form, weight, scale and layout.
I found that through warping and manipulating the type I could create the sense of increasing pressure as the viewer descends, and simulate the effect that the specialised air the divers breathe has on the body as it is saturated with gases.
I also explored how sound and light could be used to create the emotions the divers experience- loneliness and isolation, the eeriness of the deep ocean. I used the audio from the podcast which further enhances the immersion of the experience.
Being a light projection, the viewers could interact with the experience, further warping and affecting the type.
As light projection was a primary feature of the experience, I decided to utilise it in the branding. I designed the type and projected it onto surfaces, before capturing and incorporating into the posters.
Here is a 3D representation of the experience. I enjoyed using a range of media, from motion graphics, photography and typography.
