ThreeSix: Geometry/Aesthetics/Legibility

This paper discusses the legibility, appropriateness and ideological basis of computational aesthetics and generativity in the design of type.

Since the late 19th century, a huge number of designers have explored the construction of typefaces and lettering whose individual forms are conceived as variable components in systems of difference regulated by underlying geometries. These preoccupations can be seen as either an exponent of, or a response to, communication practices predicated on a modernist world view.

The appearance of such types is determined largely by the technologies and mechanisms through which they are mediated. With certain notable exceptions, their formal simplicity restricts them to use as display typefaces which are only effective at large sizes and for short bodies of text. This limitation contrasts with the broader functionalities of typeface designs based on much older humanist traditions, where there is an implicit interconnection between form, aesthetic value and the human body.

The paper discusses the ways in which Paul McNeil and Hamish Muir’s ThreeSix project attempts to reconcile these two opposed approaches in the design of a single type family, harmonising computation with aesthetics.