White digital number 100 on a black background with a photo distortion effect.

A typographically-led, experimental zine that transforms auditory experience into a visual and tactile reading journey. Reading Sounds is a translation of the audio description by Wiradjuri anti-disciplinary artist Joel Sherwood Spring of his work HOLECODED, presented in Deep Time Real Time at RMIT Design Hub (March–May 2025), alongside an interwoven soundscape by Michelle Nguyen (Noom), originally created for Montez Radio and performed at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia as part of Melbourne Now (2023).

At the heart of Reading Sounds is accessibility. Captioning and audio description, often treated as afterthoughts, are here integral, generative parts of the design. The voiceover transcript is typeset traditionally, while playful sound descriptions, cut-outs, and barrier-grid animations expand the perceptual and emotional space of the work.
By centering accessibility as an aesthetic force, the zine invites d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences, as well as all readers, to experience sound in multidimensional ways, demonstrating how typography, layout, and interactivity can transform captioning and audio description from functional tools into creative, expansive, and vital elements of contemporary publishing.

Specifications

Printing: All artwork laser printed in CMYK

Paper Stocks:

* Coloured Tiziano Paper, 160gsm

* Fabriano Accademia Paper, 200gsm

* Overhead Transparency Film

Structural Material: Screen Board, 1.5mm

Binding: Rubber band binding.

Edition: Limited edition, handmade.

Typefaces: ITC Weidemann.

Dimensions: 150 x 210, portrait.

A page from a book or magazine with descriptive text about calm, meditative atmospheres, water sounds, and sonic landscape imagery, featuring a highlighted section of text and an illustration of a wave or water splash with the words 'm-m-m-m-m-m'.

Reading Sounds

A page of printed text with five circular cutouts revealing yellow background with black text, and five black and white patterned shapes resembling sound waves.
A printed page with text in three sections. The top and bottom sections contain repeated 'blop - blp' sounds, simulating a sound effect. The middle section, visible through a circular cutout, contains a paragraph of text about Lynas Earth and minerals like lithium. The page has a black border around the circle and a small number '05' in the bottom right corner.
A page of a book or magazine with text about sound, atmosphere, and imagery. A large orange, irregularly shaped overlay with black text partially covers the page, discussing a video of a shovel digging and a medieval theme.
moving image
Yellow plastic vegetable peeler with a green handle.
Open colorful booklet with various pages in yellow, orange, white, and beige, featuring text and photographs, held together with a yellow paperclip.
Color swatches in various shades from red to white arranged in a fan shape.