Attention Economy

TypeSet exhibition, part of OFFSITE 2016, was a celebration of type as a constant but changing influence in the world around us. It aimed to present a compilation of classic typography, current trends and new experiments in the field of type and typographic design. In response to the TypeSet brief, my submission explored how moving from paper to screen to consume content effects our reading and learning behaviours.

Screen-based reading causes us to skim, scan and browse through layers of content including text, image, sound and motion which in turn reduces our attention span and capacity to retain significant amounts of information. This poster represents the 'Attention Economy' that we are living in today, where individuals and organisations fight to keep us engaged.

Data was analysed from multiple web articles I read between March 12th–15th 2016 across various devices including an iPhone, laptop and iPad. The scale of each word is dependent on the frequency with which they appeared throughout all of the articles combined. The end result illustrates how we often 'word-spot' instead of 'deep-read' as we scroll through endless digital pages of information.