Disinter – Visual Encryption

 

A simple, yet effective method of encrypting text visually by removing pieces from the letters and adding visual noise. My goal was to make a font that would be illegible even if you know about the underlying method­—but at the same time decodeable using a surprisingly simple key. I wanted to create a purely visual encryption, meaning that you should not have to think about decoding the text­—your eye should do the work. As it were, it is an experiment that mixes principles of typography (the art of arranging information), steganography (the art of concealing information) and cryptography (the art of scrambling it). The name «Disinter» comes from the obfuscation process I developed: It consists of «disrupting» and «interlacing» the characters.

 
<chaos:lang locale=«en»>A mysterious message</chaos:lang><chaos:lang locale=«de»>Eine mysteriöse Botschaft</chaos:lang>
<chaos:lang locale=«en»>Can you read it?</chaos:lang><chaos:lang locale=«de»>Wer kann sie lesen?</chaos:lang>
<chaos:lang locale=«en»>The decryption key</chaos:lang><chaos:lang locale=«de»>Der Schlüssel</chaos:lang>. <chaos:lang locale=«en»><br />
By laying a transparent film with a simple stripe pattern over the encrypted message, the missing bits are filled in, while the superfluous visual noise is cancelled.<br />
</chaos:lang><br />
<chaos:lang locale=«de»><br />
Wenn man einen Transparentfilm mit einem simplen Streifenmuster über die verschlüsselte Botschaft legt, werden die fehlenden Teile ausgefüllt, während das überflüssige visuelle «Rauschen» gelöscht wird.<br />
</chaos:lang>
<chaos:lang locale=«en»>The message, decrypted</chaos:lang><chaos:lang locale=«de»>Die Botschaft, entschlüsselt</chaos:lang>. <chaos:lang locale=«en»><br />
The previously very confusing signs become cleartext again.<br />
</chaos:lang><br />
<chaos:lang locale=«de»><br />
Die gerade noch so verwirrenden Zeichen werden wieder zu Klartext.<br />
</chaos:lang>
<chaos:lang locale=«en»><br />
Page from the documentation book explaining the process in detail.<br />
</chaos:lang><br />
<chaos:lang locale=«de»><br />
Seite aus dem Dokumentationsbuch, welches den Prozess im Detail erklärt.<br />
</chaos:lang>
 
<chaos:lang locale=«en»>A mysterious message</chaos:lang><chaos:lang locale=«de»>Eine mysteriöse Botschaft</chaos:lang>

A mysterious message

*}
<chaos:lang locale=«en»>Can you read it?</chaos:lang><chaos:lang locale=«de»>Wer kann sie lesen?</chaos:lang>

Can you read it?

*}
<chaos:lang locale=«en»>The decryption key</chaos:lang><chaos:lang locale=«de»>Der Schlüssel</chaos:lang>. <chaos:lang locale=«en»><br />
By laying a transparent film with a simple stripe pattern over the encrypted message, the missing bits are filled in, while the superfluous visual noise is cancelled.<br />
</chaos:lang><br />
<chaos:lang locale=«de»><br />
Wenn man einen Transparentfilm mit einem simplen Streifenmuster über die verschlüsselte Botschaft legt, werden die fehlenden Teile ausgefüllt, während das überflüssige visuelle «Rauschen» gelöscht wird.<br />
</chaos:lang>

The decryption key – By laying a transparent film with a simple stripe pattern over the encrypted message, the missing bits are filled in, while the superfluous visual noise is cancelled.

*}
<chaos:lang locale=«en»>The message, decrypted</chaos:lang><chaos:lang locale=«de»>Die Botschaft, entschlüsselt</chaos:lang>. <chaos:lang locale=«en»><br />
The previously very confusing signs become cleartext again.<br />
</chaos:lang><br />
<chaos:lang locale=«de»><br />
Die gerade noch so verwirrenden Zeichen werden wieder zu Klartext.<br />
</chaos:lang>

The message, decrypted – The previously very confusing signs become cleartext again.

*}
<chaos:lang locale=«en»><br />
Page from the documentation book explaining the process in detail.<br />
</chaos:lang><br />
<chaos:lang locale=«de»><br />
Seite aus dem Dokumentationsbuch, welches den Prozess im Detail erklärt.<br />
</chaos:lang>

Page from the documentation book explaining the process in detail.

*}