First exhibition of Semitra, a group of creators combining great media sensibility and technique “Typeface with a temporal element” themed displays at YCAM's exhibition space and on the Internet

“Semitransparent Design” is a creative team that has been connecting the realm of design with cutting-edge media technology in works ranging from web design to graphic and interactive design since starting off in 2003. YCAM now presents “tFont/fTime”, an exhibition of the “Semitra” group of artists that emerged from this collective. Semitra have been attracting attention with their design work on various commercial websites, films, displays and other advertising media (digital signage). With a special focus on typeface design, this exhibition introduces a new work based on the unique idea of creating a font that changes hour by hour. Visitors can participate in this interactive installation directly at the venue or via the Internet.

Time produced by a typeface
Exhibition of an installation + website born out of a new design idea

The title “tFont/fTime” refers to the artistic process of gradually modifying a typeface (font) enhanced with a notion of time, and, reversely, mapping time with a font.
This exhibition aims to explore and visualize novel typeface design ideas involving gradual transformation through an installation and graphic displays.
In addition to experiencing the rapidly developing techniques of digital design that have produced a number of original typefaces in recent years, visitors to this exhibition will be able to control the transformation of a typeface directly at the venue or via the Internet.
Look forward to an event charged with the creative sense of street and skating culture, manifested in works that a variety of people help created and-recreate by modifying typeface design and graphics.


“tFont” is a two-dimensional typeface with an added element of time. Dots oflight arranged in seemingly random patterns describe in fact the shapes of letters that can only be read when photographed with long exposure. This typeface consists of dynamic and in their original state unreadable blinking lights,
so it requires the additional step of photographing or filming in order to become readable. In other words, “tFont” is a typeface that was designed based on the premise of being shaped/modified by a third party. The web specific transmission of culture through shaping/modification that happens here hints at the various possibilities of creativity on the Internet.
The exhibition at YCAM this time is made up of an installation made out of the “tFont”, and another one incorporating the newly developed “fTime”. In the latter, the designers place a typeface on a time axis, and “play” the letters just as if they were playing music.
(Ryoji Tanaka / Semitra)