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Microphone

Artist Tobias Frere-Jones United States, born 1970
Date1995
Dimensions23 3/8 x 16 1/2 in. (59.4 x 41.9 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.7561
DescriptionAlso created for issue 15 of FUSE, Microphone is a conceptual typeface that links each letter on a keyboard with a distinct phrase. By typing, the user creates fragmented conversations similar to those one might overhear while walking down a city street. Tobias Frere-Jones developed this typeface during his daily commute around Boston, writing down phrases he overheard in public. To reflect this variety of voices and volumes, each phrase in Microphone is rendered in different point sizes and weights of the Interstate typeface he had designed a few years prior. In order to maintain a level of randomness, Frere-Jones assigned numerals 0–9 followed by letters A–Z (starting with uppercase, then lowercase) to the phrases in the order in which he recorded them. For example, the uppercase “A” produces “so beautiful,” while the lowercase “a” produces “two forty-nine.” While the typeface was developed in Boston, the background image in the poster is a blown-up still from a Super-8 film shot on Washington Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn.
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