Visible Language is an American journal presenting research and experimentation on the properties of writing system

Writing system

A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...

s, particularly typography

Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...

. Founded in 1967 as The Journal of Typographical Research by Merald Wrolstad, each Visible Language edition is co-edited with a guest editor-author.

A primary tenet of the journal is that reading and writing together form a new, separate, and autonomous language system. The journal has covered the subject of concrete poetry

Concrete poetry

Concrete poetry or shape poetry is poetry in which the typographical arrangement of words is as important in conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of the poem, such as meaning of words, rhythm, rhyme and so on....

, the Fluxus

Fluxus

Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...

 art movement, painted text, textual criticism

Textual criticism

Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...

, the abstraction of symbols, articulatory synthesis

Articulatory synthesis

Articulatory synthesis refers to computational techniques for synthesizing speech based on models of the human vocal tract and the articulation processes occurring there. The shape of the vocal tract can be controlled in a number of ways which usually involves modifying the position of the speech...

 and text, and the evolution of the page from print to on-screen display. Guest editor-authors have included Colin Banks

Colin Banks

Colin Banks co-founder of Banks & Miles, designers and typographers, founded in London in 1958 with partner John Miles...

, John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, Adrian Frutiger

Adrian Frutiger

Adrian Frutiger is one of the prominent typeface designers of the 20th century, who continues to influence the direction of digital typography in the 21st century; he is best known for creating the typefaces Univers and Frutiger.-Early life:Adrian Frutiger was born in Unterseen, Canton of Bern, as...

, Dick Higgins

Dick Higgins

Dick Higgins was a composer, poet, printer, and early Fluxus artist. Higgins was born in Cambridge, England, but raised in the United States in various parts of New England, including Worcester, Massachusetts, Putney, Vermont, and Concord, New Hampshire.Like other Fluxus artists, Higgins studied...

, Richard Kostelanetz

Richard Kostelanetz

Richard Kostelanetz is an American artist, author and critic.He was born to Boris Kostelanetz and Ethel Cory and is the nephew of the composer Andre Kostelanetz....

, Craig Saper

Craig J Saper

Craig Saper is Professor of Language, Literacy, & Culture at the University of Maryland Baltimore County . He is the author of Networked Art and Artificial Mythologies .-Books:...

, and George Steiner

George Steiner

Francis George Steiner, FBA , is an influential European-born American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, translator, and educator. He has written extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the impact of the Holocaust...

.

The journal is currently edited by Sharon Poggenpohl of the Illinois Institute of Technology's

Illinois Institute of Technology

Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private Ph.D.-granting university located in Chicago, Illinois, with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, communications, industrial technology, information technology, design, and law...

 Institute of Design

IIT Institute of Design

Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology , originally founded as the New Bauhaus, is a graduate school teaching systemic, human-centered design.- History :...

, with administrative offices at the Rhode Island School of Design

Rhode Island School of Design

Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...

.

See also

• Baseline
  Baseline (magazine)
  Baseline magazine is a magazine devoted to typography, book arts and graphic design.-History:Since Baseline 19, which appeared in 1995, Baseline has been published by Bradbourne Publishing, co-edited by Mike Daines and Hans Dieter Reichert and art-directed by HDR Visual Communication. It is...
  
  
• Communication Arts
  Communication Arts
  Communication Arts is the largest international trade journal of visual communications. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine’s coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration and interactive media. The magazine continues to be edited and...
  
  
• Emigre magazine
  Emigre magazine
  Emigre was a graphic design magazine published by Emigre Graphics between 1984 and 2005; it was first published in 1984 in San Francisco, California, USA...
  
  
• eye (magazine)
  Eye (magazine)
  Eye Magazine, The International Review of Graphic Design is a quarterly print magazine on graphic design and visual culture.- History :...
  
  
• Print (magazine)
  Print (magazine)
  The publication, Print, A Quarterly Journal of the Graphic Arts, was a limited edition quarterly periodical begun in 1940 and continued under different names up to the present day as Print, a bimonthly American magazine about visual culture and design.In its current format, Print documents and...