Planet typography MyFonts
The typographic Times
Peter Cho

 

[October 2005]
Typeface animator
Peter Cho interview
Letterscapes site designer

   

You animate typography but... you’re not a type designer. So... who is Peter Cho ?

Sure, I’m not a traditional type designer and probably don’t have the patience (or talent) to craft type faces! I’m very interested in letterforms, however, and working with why we love these symbols so much. I’ve also been wondering lately about writing systems in general and about how writing and the sound of language can relate to each other.

You are the father of "Letterscapes". Can you introduce your baby ?

My project "Letterscapes" is a set of twenty-six letter landscapes for each letter of the roman alphabet. Each letter is a different reactive scene, where you can move the mouse to explore the letterform. It’s a combination of some ideas I worked on in graduate school at the MIT Media Lab and since then as well. It’s written in Java and runs as a Java applet on the web.

Letterscapes

What kind of reactions have you received from this website ?

I’ve gotten some very nice emails! Also it’s been featured on a few websites and received awards from the Tokyo Type Directors Club and the Art Directors Club in New York.

You have Korean roots. Will you play one day with the Korean caracters (Hangul) as you have played with the Latin ones ?

Yes! I was born in the US, but my heritage is Korean, and I’m very interested in the Korean writing system. This summer, I created a piece based on Letterscapes called "Hangulscapes" which was part of an exhibit curated by Ahn Sang Soo at Ssamzie Space in Seoul.


Website: www.typeractive.com/letterscapes
See also: Tokyo TDC Awards 2002