Designer Kobi Franco’s new book, The Laboratory of Molecular Typography, incorporates speculative research in the field of experimental typography. Its goal is to investigate the relationship between function and aesthetics. Underlying the research is the basic premise that both Latin and Hebrew letters have a molecular structure, that is, each form has laws and characteristics, and the interaction of these structures with elements from other fields will yield diverse results. Franco has been developing the visual research presented in the book since his days as a graduate student at Shenkar, and he hopes to use it to build a bridge between the fields of design, science, and language.
In the roughly 150 “visual studies” in the book, Franco refers to written forms as molecules possessing “semi” electromagnetic properties. His research, based on the font he designed in 2005 (the “Vaad” font, based on signage by Ze’ev Raban from 1925), becomes the raw material for an endless game, a kind of method to explore the written letter. Franco brings together letters, mathematical formulas and colors, which he disassembles and reassembles, effectively creating a system of shapes—a “letter formula,” if you will—which, as mentioned, he calls “molecules.”
Franco’s years-long typographic research has been presented in exhibitions in various formats in Israel and abroad, including posters and interactive displays. A longtime graphic designer with an established studio and rich background in book design, he is not afraid to say about himself that “typography is the foundation of my work.” Indeed, the written letter is the starting point for the various projects he has designed in the context of his studio. As head of the Master’s degree program in design at Shenkar, Franco teaches courses on typography, from fundamentals and introductory courses to advanced and experimental ones.
His research is based on a similar process undertaken in the 1960s by a group of French mathematician-writers, known as the Oulipo Group, who together developed a broad system of constrained, mainly mathematical, writing techniques, through which they wrote poetry and literature. One of the best examples of the group’s experimentation is the story “La Disparition” by Georges Perec, in which the letter E was deleted from the entire text. Perec’s linguistic activism comes to suggest that all creative work is dictated by constraints and not necessarily by endless freedom, as was thought. Constraint, by eliminating the arbitrary, serves creativity, and hence the playful potential that is at the basis of language.
In the short essays in the book and the accompanying website, Franco appears to want to break through the boundaries of typography and ignite a multi-layered discussion. Batsheva Goldman-Ida connects the typographic research to a group of Dadaist poets, Uri Dromer relates Franco’s practice to sounds, and Eran Neumann links it to architecture and space.
The reader is invited to think about the process of disassembly and assembly as an opportunity to engage with the living systems we share in as humans, and thus to wonder about their flexibility and mutual influences. Franco’s method asks of the designer to be a researcher, to not only use an existing typographic range as a tool for conveying messages, but to create his own “letter-formula” and operate them in diverse interfaces. The result may not fulfill the ultimate goal of the graphic design profession—to respond to a client’s brief—but it opens up new, infinite spaces of trial and error. Franco admits that he is “not really a chemist, physicist or mathematician,” but the project does touch on gender representations, mysticism, literature and linguistics.
The book is published by Slanted, which specializes in typography books, and Franco took on the complex task of designing the book in a fruitful dialogue with the German publishers who encouraged him to “explode with color!” “At first,” he confesses, “it was a bit difficult for me, but then, I started to love it.”
Substantial areas of color replace gray pages imitating the “laboratory” forms, and that’s a good thing. The book, which is printed in three colors (red, blue, and black), creates visual interest that changes across its pages, not only thanks to the content but also to the vibrant changing attractions that these colors create throughout. The pleasant-to-read medium-sized format makes the research both accessible and spectacular, further enhancing the project.
One of the questions that arises when browsing is the need to document design research processes. Is the act of building a bilingual formal system based on basic shapes, but one that does not maintain the regularity of a serviceable written letter, significant? In other words, is there any point in applying the practice described in the book in the academic or graphic design space, or is the documentation of the research the significant element here? And what effect will the research have among the diverse audiences that will encounter it? Regarding this last question, Franco went the extra mile and constructed a dedicated website for the research and the book where one can continue to disassemble and reconstruct letters, and produce additional variations.
In preparation for the book’s launch (March 26 at the Da Vinci Center), I asked Franco what it’s like to wear both hats—the researcher who must make abstract research accessible, and the designer packaging a personal project. “This is the first time I have designed for myself, and I wanted to show everything and use all the capabilities that printing allows, a lot of this and that. But I also had to check myself and make the right decisions in dialogue with the publisher. There is something about that centimeter and half of space the book takes up on the bookshelf—that little bit of real estate I have left behind—an eternity in all of a centimeter and a half.”
The book is available on the publisher’s website and at the independent bookstores in Tel Aviv-Jaffa.
Avigail Reiner is a graphic designer, a graduate of the Visual Communication department at Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem, and has a master's degree with honors in cultural studies from Tel Aviv University. She is a graduate of the design curation studies program at Shenkar College. She has been a lecturer for about 15 years in the visual communication department at Shenkar College and a faculty member at the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) and in Shenkar College. She focuses on designing artist's books and catalogs and formulating a graphic language for exhibitions and cultural events. Among the studio's clients are the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Haifa Museums, the Design Museum in Holon, artists and curators. She is the winner of the Ministry of Culture award for 2017.
