Visual knowledge is typologized in our memory according to content categories and at the same time topologized according to spatiotemporal criteria. It is only through this that we can make targeted use of it in the process of imagination and perception. The descriptive topology can be compared to the cataloging system of a library. As a type, things show us their affiliation to a certain category of content, while as a topos they indicate where they belong. The set of topoi are connected to each other and to our point of view by the spatiotemporally organized network of paths of the topography. This process is largely implicit until we make it explicit through problem-oriented thinking and action in the observation and design process.
The image space has the same topological order structure as our action space. All projective representation techniques are based on this, from concrete illustrations to abstract geometricizations. The topological structure of our visual space emerges most clearly in geometry, since no specific content is represented here, only formal-logical relationships. Places shrink to points and paths to distances, while all surfaces and bodies are reduced to their space-limiting edges and thus dematerialized. The topological line network of places and paths, lines and points can be transformed at will as long as the scale is maintained.
The topology of the written and pictorial signs dictates the direction in which we look and read, which is revealed by a scan of our eye movements during the viewing process. The position of the letters in the word and sentence reflects the rhythm of sound formation in a vivid way. Typos and topos determine the formation of spatial-visual signs. The position of the signs in relation to each other and to the whole gives rise to images with very different content. The legibility of the statement therefore gives us the scope for design.
