THE NON-DESIGNER'S TYPE BOOK

Future Trends

This is the exciting part. Some of our documents are no longer flat images
of type and photographs fixed to a static page. With the advent of the
World Wide Web, many documents are interactive and dynamic. A head¬
line can animate while it moves around on the page; a logo can change into
a headline with the click of the mouse; type can change colors or size; and
3D type can rotate or spin. While all this sounded futuristic a couple of
years ago, it's becoming commonplace on the web. Certainly a future trend
is more interactive type.

Another future trend is the design and usage of more fonts created
specifically for display on computer monitors. The driving force for font
technology up to this point has always been to optimize the output quality
for publishing in the print media, but fonts designed for low-resolution
web publishing will flourish and will influence print designers as well.

Web designers are limited to some degree by the technology available and
by the speed with which most people can access web pages through their
computers. As web browsers, programming languages, and the speed of
Internet access improve, designers will have more freedom in web site
design, and the creative possibilities will be more extensive than ever before,
including the possibilities of what we can do with type. Look out.

33: TRENDS IN TYPE .209

So, in the near future, when the student intern in the cubicle down the hall
is using some new holographic feature on a multi-dimensional, multimedia
document, I'll just have one thing to say: "Go get your own x-acto knife,
dude. This one's got sentimental value."