A New Way to Read Shakespeare

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0900

Understanding Shakespeare is a BA thesis project by German designer Stephan Thiel, created in the Interface Design program at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. The project proposes a new way to rediscover Shakespeare’s plays through information visualization.

Rather than replacing reading, it uses visual patterns to reveal structure, vocabulary, character distribution, and recurring language.

The project uses text data from Northwestern University’s WordHoard project. Computational methods are applied to extract hidden structures from the plays and visualize what Thiel describes as narrative algorithms.

How to Read It

The works were designed as large posters, around 90 cm by 220 cm, so the printed experience differs from viewing them on a screen.

Horizontal direction: progression of the play, including acts and scenes
Vertical direction: vocabulary and character distribution by scene
Yellow bands: passages where specific words appear frequently
Text size: frequency of word use
Placement: distribution of speech and language across characters and scenes

Words such as “time” or “man” appear large when they recur throughout a play, making themes visible across the whole structure.

Some visualizations combine Shakespeare’s text with contemporary Google search results. Important quotations are searched, and the number of returned results influences the visual emphasis, creating a dialogue between classical literature and modern attention.

Methods

The project was built with Processing, toxiclibs, Classifier4J, and related natural-language processing tools. Intermediate PDF outputs were also turned into process videos, documenting the design experimentation.

Five Approaches

Thiel presents the work as a starting point for discussion rather than a complete substitute for reading. The approaches include:

vocabulary distribution by character
word repetition across scenes
quotation visibility through Google search results
character entrances and exits
large-scale text patterns

Summary

“Understanding Shakespeare” turns reading into a visual design problem. It helps readers and viewers notice patterns that are difficult to perceive line by line, bringing literary studies, data analysis, and information design together.

References

Stefanie Posavec's Visualization of On the Road

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0900

This work is part of Writing Without Words, a project by graphic designer Stefanie Posavec. Posavec sought to transform text from something only read into something also seen, treating style, rhythm, theme, and structure as data.

The piece introduced here, Literary Organism, visualizes Jack Kerouac’s On the Road as a literary body.

About On the Road

Author: Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
Original title: On the Road
Subject: the travels of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty across the United States by car, bus, and hitchhiking

The novel is closely associated with the Beat Generation, road narratives, jazz-like prose rhythm, and postwar counterculture.

How to Read It

1. Basic Structure

The text is decomposed hierarchically:

Part -> chapter -> paragraph -> sentence -> word

The form radiates outward from the center, and the story can be followed clockwise.

2. Notation

Sentences and paragraphs are indexed by chapter and paragraph number. For example, 3.5 means the fifth paragraph of chapter 3.

3. Colors

Colors indicate themes and content categories, including Dean Moriarty, bop and jazz music, social events, travel, regional life, parties, work and survival, Sal Paradise, relationships, illegal activity, and character sketches.

4. Sentence Length

Each sentence is represented by a wedge proportional to word count. The longest sentence has 151 words, and the legend marks the scale in 10-word increments.

Process and Intent

Writing Without Words began as Posavec’s MA research. She collected and drew much of the data by hand, emphasizing the labor and human presence behind the visualization.

The project uses quantitative data, but its aim is not detached measurement. It creates an emotional and structural encounter with literature.

Summary

Posavec’s literary visualization opens another way to experience On the Road. The rhythm, themes, and movement of the novel become visible, turning reading into a form of looking.

言葉 on Visualizing.JP

A New Way to Read Shakespeare

How to Read It

Methods

Five Approaches

Summary

References

Stefanie Posavec's Visualization of On the Road

About On the Road

How to Read It

1. Basic Structure

2. Notation

3. Colors

4. Sentence Length

Process and Intent

Summary

References