Generative Type Design: Creating Glyphs from Typographical Skeletons

It is through typography that order and form, visible and durable, is given to written communication. Typography has been accompanied by new technologies, which designers and typographers have adapted. The use of these technologies in the design process boosted the exploration of new approaches for type design. Designers began to explore generative processes in their design process in different types of projects, such as dynamic visual identities or generative typography. In this work, we present an algorithmic system capable of generating glyphs from typographical skeletons. This system, which is online at cdv.dei.uc.pt/2019 /letterspecies, fills a typographical skeleton using a drawing technique, both selected by the user, and outputs an OpenType font. With the presented system, we explore the relation between legibility and coherence in an innovative type design approach where the generated typefaces can be applied in the most diverse media.