ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the key characteristics of new forms of writing in which meaning derives as much from the shape, color, and texture of words as from their lexical meanings, and in which words connect to form meaningful units, not through grammatical structures and linguistic cohesion, but through the visual structures of layout and diagrammatic templates. After showing how layout, typography, and color co-function to provide textual structure and express the identity of text-producing individuals and organizations, the chapter presents an overview of different types of diagram and their meaning potentials, argues that new writing, while no longer able to be read aloud, nevertheless requires complementation by the spoken word, and stresses the power of diagrammatic templates as models for the construction of reality.
