Teaching-Type is the teaching portal of Kelsey Elder; an Assistant Professor of Design at Carnegie Mellon University.
Type Design: Variable
Karan Kumar
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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).
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.”