type + tech + teaching
is a typographer and educator based in Pittsburgh, PA. When he’s not teaching at Carnegie Mellon University, crafting letters, and/or tinkering on a press, you’ll most likely find him hanging out with his cats.
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① Recent Projects
Variable
teaching
Gravity Racers typeface + tool
Labore VT
typeface
Emmett Till Memory Projectdesign advisor
Coterie Babylogotype + monogram
Melting Metalpublication
Second Shift Autowerksidentity
Meagertypeface
Letter Mattersprogramming
Dead Bird Letterstranscription + setting
Cards for Loved Oneslettering + illustration
Ameri-Candied Dreamssupergraphics
✕
Tesselate
by William Sumrall
For the final project in the course (Grand Prix), Will combined programs and techniques to create a generative camouflage tool. His form making process began with writing a drawing program in Python which was executed by DrawBot. These forms were then turned into a variable typeface which provided a way to explore the transition (interpolation) between two formally unique masters for each glyph.
A simple .py script was used to create a vanilla slider to demonstrate a possible user interface to the generative tool. Will pushed his process one step further by printing the swatches on fabric and capturing the final forms through analogue means; a vhs recorder and tube tv (outcome shown above, process shown below).
Final video is viewable : here.
From Will:
“Tesselate is a variable typeface available in two styles: extended and swatch. It is a generative tool for camouflage creation and experimentation. Tesselate tests the notion of language as a clarifying tool vs. as a tool for obfuscation.”