Exploring FUSE: A Revolution in Visual Languages

Building on last year’s IN SESSION: Typographic Abstraction, which interrogated the shift from semantics to spectacle, this session looks back at a primary catalyst of this evolution: FUSE, Neville Brody and Jon Wozencroft’s experimental publication on fonts and typography. Launched in 1990 to harness the untapped potential of digital communication, FUSE acted as a radical laboratory where designers and architects were invited to challenge the form of the alphabet itself.

In this conversation, Adrian Shaughnessy (RCA Typography/Editorial Design short course leader) and Neville Brody (RCA Professor and Design Without Masterclass leader) will explore the historical significance of FUSE and its role in pioneering the careers of many of today’s leading graphic designers. They will discuss how the project’s legacy of radical experimentation continues to influence how we rethink and reimagine the languages we use today, moving typography beyond traditional meaning and into a post-semantic realm of expression.