C4PTCH4 TH1S is a series that studies the linguistic trends born within digital communication platforms, the transformative effects of emergent technologies on our use of languages, and what these occurrences reveal about the future of communication. Linguists, theorists, designers, and artists were invited to talk about these topics in relationship to their professional work. Their presentations address emoji and meme culture, generative form-making, machine vision, and new modes of inquiry. The series was presented as part of ArtCenter College of Design’s Creative Tech Week, October 11–15, 2021.

Session 1/3: Poetry, Bots, Humans, and Language
Poets Allison Parrish and Sam Creely

Poets Allison Parrish and Sam Creely discuss the increasing complexity of a conversation when visual or written language is transcribed into a digital environment. Whether a poem created through machine-based learning or a notated dance, conversations made through technology still contain the explicit structures and artifacts of their original language.

Session 2/3: Emoji and the Evolution of Communication
Jennifer 8. Lee (Emojination)

As of September 2021, there are 3,633 emoji in the Unicode Standard, and they continue to grow as a language and perhaps even have the potential to form an emoji dialect. Jennifer 8. Lee is the founder of Emojination, a grassroots group whose motto is “Emoji by the people, for the people.”

Session 3/3: The Role of Graphic Design in Technology
Lucienne Roberts, Mike Abbink, and Brad Bartlett

New tools, technologies, and techniques are impacting the expanding field of graphic design: a discipline that has transcended its role as commercial art practice, to that of an essential and universal tool for communicating a multi-dimensional experience through type and image across a diverse landscape of traditional and emerging media. Our panel of educators and professionals—Mike Abbink, Brad Bartlett, and Lucienne Roberts—discuss the continuing impact of technology on typography and design.