For example a flame who looks like a flame
Or a typography snow who looks like snow
Do you know the name of this exercice ?
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8In literature, it's called "onomatopoeia," so I'd coin "fontomatopoeia."– Lauren-Clear-Monica-IpsumNov 4, 2013 at 13:17
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I like Lauren's suggestion! But other than that, there's no name for this. Other than maybe "University Typography Class 101 homework"– DA01Nov 4, 2013 at 15:44
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1Hm, that went over well.:) I'll make it an answer.– Lauren-Clear-Monica-IpsumNov 4, 2013 at 19:51
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1In Dutch we have the term 'letterbeeld', which translates (poorly) as 'letter-image'. And indeed, @DA01, this is a homework assignment I give in my design class!– VincentNov 5, 2013 at 10:58
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7 Answers
The term for words of this nature are "autological" (e.g. "short" is autological because it is short; "long" is not because it is a short word).
This has been extended to the visual medium(s) via the word "autologlyph"
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"Autologlyph" may be the answer, but mercy, that's a bitch to say with that car crash of Ls in the middle. Jan 28, 2014 at 20:18
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I agree, but next to "onomatopoeia" it is downright friendly! When I was but a young child, my family dragged to me to Wales at some point, where we visited Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch– horatioJan 28, 2014 at 21:35
In literature, it's called "onomatopoeia," so I'd coin "fontomatopoeia."
answered Nov 4, 2013 at 19:51
Lauren-Clear-Monica-IpsumLauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
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2Onomatopoeia is the name for a word invented to mimic a particular sound. Examples are the word "meow" and the word "hiss" which when spoken, imitate the sound they are describing. While your comparison with onomatopoeia is interesting, it's not really a good enough analogy. If it were like the visual equivalent of onomatopoeia, it would have to be a "word" invented purely because the letter forms look like what it's describing. The best examples I can think of for this would be "<3" or ":-)", which aren't technically words, but you get the idea. Nov 6, 2013 at 23:51
Pace Lauren, it could be called illustrative type. And it's almost skeuomorphic.
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@DA01 I did wonder about that wording. But the link explains all. Nov 5, 2013 at 15:55
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oh...maybe I'm being dense. Was the comment meant to be tongue-in-cheek?– DA01Nov 5, 2013 at 16:04
I know it as Expressive Typography
While Lauren's answer is certainly the best. Often this style of typography is referred to as "display type". Other than that, I don't think there's a specific name.
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I wouldn't say this style is 'display type' but rather, this style is but one small example of what 'display type' encompasses.– DA01Nov 5, 2013 at 15:46
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Downvoter: I didn't mean it's all that display type is... just that's how I would refer to it. It is display type. Elaborate, illustrative, display type.– ScottNov 7, 2013 at 0:01
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I didn't downvote, but I agree. It is a display face (as opposed to being a text face).– DA01Nov 7, 2013 at 1:03
It's not in any way skeuomorphic. This term has to be the most mis0used term on the interwebs this decade. I'd agree it's almost hyperreal which people often should be saying when they say skeuomorphic.
They're almost ideograms. However ideograms are wordless images, which of themselves form words in some written languages (East Asian, Ancient Egyptian languages) (paradox is only apparent I'm just not saying it correctly!)
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2I do apologise. I jumped to a wrong conclusion. I wrote a big appreciative comment to the blogger under wideEyedPupil moniker. Thanks for sharing with me, forever grateful :-) I've just read so many wrong blogs on this topic! Nov 5, 2013 at 11:53
it's often referred to as "ornamental"
