week 21-28 jan

This Unit I will further explore the impact of visual communication in the words we read online. And in this context, it is imperative to broach the subject of the rise of conspiracy theory led groups that shape the facts according to their own beliefs and the rise of fake news.

That’s when I came across the concept of the Illusory Truth Effect which states that when a “fact” is repeated enough times we tend to believe it no matter how false it may be. This all comes down to the way our brain uses cognitive shortcuts to save energy. When a thought is easier to process, it requires our brains to use less energy, which leads us to prefer it. And processing a repeated statement we saw on our social media feed is far easier for our brain to grasp than thinking for ourselves or cross several references.

So this week I started to illustrate, using type design as the medium, the journey of a false statement and its repetition process.

This first iteration explores the idea of the “new truth” being the product of several ideas coming together. And after a process of repetion, they become a new concept.

The second iteration illustrates the usage of plausible lies for the creation of the fake news. For a lie to become the new truth poeple need to find it reliable enough not to investigate more on the subject.

This week I also used GAN to create a new typeface and although the results didn’t achieve a realistic or perceptible outcome, I find interesting the idea of an artificial intelligence dictating how we perceive information.