Just the type to comment on design’s visual aspects

I am writing in response to Tim Rich’s Private View (DW 4 September). I was glad to read that someone is directing people’s attention to the essence of design, which I believe is the relationship between word and image, especially in this image-oriented culture.

During my undergraduate studies I was fascinated with typography and concentrated on the subject Rich is discussing.

In fact, my thesis title was ‘The relationship between word and image’. As I am bilingual I found the subject matter even more interesting as my other fluent language is Hebrew in which the alphabet is completely different.

My research attempted to settle this relationship that designers today often overlook as Rich says. For my MA in advertising I concentrated on consumer behaviour and the power of the media, discussing the power of the image on the West and how the media takes advantage of it. But perhaps again overlooking the importance of the visual side words have.

Images seem to win over words, but I still believe the point Rich makes is so important as people in the industry overlook the mere image a word carries with its language, letters, font and so on.

In Hebrew, for example, to strengthen the point, vowels are dropped and there is a sole dependency on our visual memory bank.

Guy Rashty

Designer

London WC1