Ogenschreeft

Ogenschreeft is a term that appears in some Dutch-language discussions of experimental communication to denote a form of expression where the act of reading is intertwined with visual perception. It is not a standard dictionary entry, but a label used for approaches that foreground the eye’s role in meaning-making through layout, typography, and imagery.

The word is a neologism likely built from oog, the Dutch word for eye, and schrift, meaning writing. Because it is not widely codified, its precise etymology varies by author, and the term is encountered mainly in avant-garde or speculative contexts.

In practice, ogenschreeft can refer to techniques where textual content is arranged to be read as much by sight as by words. This can include text arranged to form shapes, dense typographic collages, or pages where spacing and alignment guide interpretive paths. It may also describe theoretical discussions about how readers’ eye movements influence interpretation, or about writing that seeks to be experienced visually as much as verbally.

Scholarly reception is limited; readers should treat it as a niche or provisional label rather than a stable category. Related concepts include visual poetry, typographic art, and experimental graphic storytelling, as well as interdisciplinary studies of reading and perception.