What does graphic design mean today, in an era characterized by the so-called ‘global challenges’ (to use an understatement)? What are the consequences of the crisis of the consumer society for design as such, given the very real threat of the collapse of both human civilization and natural ecosystems? What is the point of typography in a world where every additional pixel or print burns up the Earth's remaining resources? Is it possible to imagine—and even more so, to develop and operate—a visual communication based on self-regulating systems characteristic of nature? Or is the recently emerging phenomenon of "biomimetic design" nothing more than a new, catchy marketing strategy, e.g. a greenwashing?
Bio- (and even multi-)mimetics emerged in the second half of the 20th century—or more precisely, got back into the spotlight—as scientific technologies based on natural regenerative processes, in parallel with the intensification of civilizational crises. The attempt to emulate elements, systems, or models found in nature as solutions to human problems is, of course, not new; it is as old as humanity, though it has characterized different historical periods in vastly different ways.
The spread of biomimetic research has brought the need for an adequate design thinking. In the field of graphic design and typography, however, this requires the introduction of radically new perspectives and practices: not only unconventional, but also uncomfortable turns, as compared to traditional operations. It involves giving up centuries-old axioms, such as the notion of the individuality of the artist—his or her individual "style," the control over creative processes, as well as the ‘completion’ of a project by a deadline. Simultaneously, it may bring about new ways of creation, similar to continuously ongoing or cyclic processes found in nature—from tectonic movements and growth or decay to the water cycle—and the discovery of new, environmentally friendly materials and techniques. It may demand new forms of engagement, as well, that are foreign to consumption in the classical sense, because they require activity: participating in the designing process or becoming part of larger communities of beneficiaries. Consequently, both the creation and the reception of works of biomimetic design presuppose entirely different dimensions of time and space, far from the traditional phenomena of visuality, decorativity, linearity, logics, or narrativity.
Bio- (and multi-)mimetic typography thus fundamentally overwrites the hitherto static paradigms of graphic design. Here, the letter or the graph is no longer just a fixed visual sign, but a dynamic entity reacting to its environment, much like a biological organism (or chemical crystallization or geological formation). If we accept that nature is not a set of forms but a kind of algorithm, then the designer shifts from drawing toward system-building: toward a ‘typographic DNA’ that adapts to the changing parameters of the receptive medium (be it screen brightness, reading distance, or information density). A typography that renders words at the rate of growth of a tree would radically transform our perception, leading us away from instant consumption toward a contemplative presence. For example, a design utilizing the patterns of mycelium networks would break away from linear reading (left-to-right, top-to-bottom) of a page, resulting in a multidimensional body of text, where the distance among the letters might be shaped, for instance, by the importance they have as information.
Biomimetic typography is thus the ‘rewilding’ of visual communication (to apply an ecological concept to design ‘here and now’)—its humanization through nature. It brings a hitherto unimaginable ‘rupture’; in the history of typography, that, at the same time, would mean sustainable continuity of design.
Éva Bicskei – Ferenc Kassai
A TIPOZÓNA 6 című kiállítás megrendezésére és katalógus készítésre című és 507106/14563 azonosító számú projektet a Nemzeti Kulturális Alap Vizuális Művészetek Kollégiuma támogatja.
www.nka.hu
A TIPOZÓNA 6. – kiállítás és nemzetközi konferencia megvalósításának támogatása szakmai program megvalósítását 2026. évben a Magyar Művészeti Akadémia támogatta