Visual language plays a significant role in how one perceives the world. In the Netherlands, typography in print-based materials reflects the environment in which it was created. Specifically, typography in the printed book echoes different [Dutch] experiences of designers. The historical and contemporary context of typography in the Netherlands helps to shape what has become recognised as a distinct design culture; from type design to applied typography both digitally and in print-based materials. This practice-led PhD research is situated in the field of visual communication and draws on literature from cultural geography. My research asks how a geographical location can impact contemporary typography and its use in print-based work. It ultimately suggests an ‘ecology of semantics’, to understand the relationships – entanglements – between Dutch contemporary typographic production, discourse and place. Entanglements as non-linear connections between people, objects, subjects and their environment.

Building upon cultural geographer Doreen Massey’s philosophical and theoretical notions of ‘place as process’ – the [social] interactions within and beyond place – expose an understanding of the movement of typographic discourse and typography within the Netherlands and the printed page. Additionally, the research draws from theorists Tim Cresswell, Tim Ingold, Ewan Lentjes and Henk Hoeks. Looking specifically at the form of the book as print-based material, the social and cultural structures provide new perspectives to inform and understand entanglements between Dutch typography and place. This research takes into consideration a geographic location, the locale and a sense of place to connect discursive means of Dutch contemporary typography and meaning through print. The concept of place is used both conceptually through a graphic design practice and as place-based conversations with participants.

This practice-led research uses a multi-method approach through dialogical modes, a dialogical methodology, to reveal the relationships between typography and place. The research brings together qualitative methods through a design-led conversation prompt for five semi-structured interviews with six participants. My experience in graphic design practice supports a dialogic process in print and in the visualisation and analysis of the research. The resulting conversations provide a rich resource for thematic analysis, criticality and tangible reflection on the printed page of a book. As a designer, I bring to this practice-led research, an understanding of the vocabulary of book design, and curiosity-driven experimental practice to make invisible ideas visible and tangible through structure, materiality, text, typography and the printed page. Book design processes allow me to think through the research relational, spatial and ecological. I approach place and the book as part of the spatial realm. The book as the object, process, instrument and outcome of the research. Materiality and [inter]textuality are phenomena of the methods that enable one to focus on how meanings of place are conveyed through typographic discourse. Seven themes emerged through the research practice: time, borders, landscape, spatiality, locality, technology and education. The research outputs and outcomes consist of a thesis and concertina books.

This research makes an original contribution to the field of visual communication by expanding understanding of Dutch typographic discourse and how this is informed by experience of place. The research makes the entanglements of place visible, through a design practice, to provide an understanding of how a Dutch typographic discourse expresses cultural aspects on the printed page. The findings are an understanding of internationalisation through education and the impact of language as cultural identity. The research plays a vital role for design practitioners, theorists, and researchers for critical debate about the understanding of a sense of place.