Created by Emil Kozole, Seen is a project that deals with interception and filtering of our communications by the NSA, GCHQ and other security agencies. It is a typeface with a preloaded set of “trigger words” these agencies target when scanning through our online communications. The typeface can be installed and used as any other font, but once any of the trigger words is written, the font immediately crosses it out. This way it automatically highlights and points out the content prone to secret surveillance.

In a broader way, the project explores linguistic systems through the analysis of everyday words and investigates the connection between language, data and surveillance. By denouncing the issues surrounding dataveillance while using language that “can not be mentioned”, it wants to dilute their meaning and at the same time it works as an auto-censoring tool to stimulate a conversation about this taboo topic.