An instance is a moment made material. It is the singular occurrence of a state that could have been otherwise.
By virtue of this contingency, an instance is in turn also moment-creating: an instance is not only the capturing of time (incl. processes and patterns) or space (incl. organisational and hierarchical positions), but also their trigger. A continuation becomes a before and an after, positions become coordinates. Therefore, it is always imbued with both a solitary nostalgia and a cold quantification. An instance can be a subsequently submitted determination of a limited point in time. In most cases, however, it marks the section of a defined sequence. One of a series of recurring occasions, events, cases, that are essentially the same. Perceiving something as an instance means acknowledging it as part of a larger structure.
Instances correspond emphatically to design. Although the use of the term instance has become increasingly common in recent years, with specific uses in various disciplines, the underlying logic seems to have permeated the concept of design in an almost intrinsic way long before that. If we understand an instance as the moment where a general whole manifests in form, then design can be seen as the practice of shaping such moments—of giving concrete expression to what might otherwise remain abstract, potential, or systemic.
In type design, instances are specific versions of a typeface derived from a continuous design space. They are specific styles of a font, like Italic, Regular or Compressed Italic. In variable fonts
Title: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Release Date: June 27, 2008 eBook #43
Most Recently Updated: April 12, 2025
Language: English
Credits: David Widger
Images: Edward Bliss Foote, a clipping from Plain home talk about the human system—the habits of men and women—the cause and prevention of disease—our sexual relations and social natures, 1896, New York Murray Hill publishing company. Public Domain. Picryl