System Process Form: Type as Algorithm, published by Thames & Hudson, catalogs Paul McNeil and Hamish Muir’s Two Type System, described as the ultimate typographic experiment. Created in 2015 for use in brand communications projects, this innovative approach to type design consists of a core database of 23 type systems comprising 198 individual fonts, which interpolate to generate millions of hybrid forms made up of dots, lines, and spaces. (7,762,392 variations are possible, if you’re counting). The 400-page large-format volume, printed in three vivid neon spot colors plus metallic black, is a feast for the eyes and the imagination: a celebration of algorithm, deliberation, abstraction, luck, chance, and the human designer’s intention.
The Two Type System, like the studio’s other parametric typefaces, pushes the shapes and relationships of letters to the precise point where they obstruct or deny the reading process while still conforming to the conventional arrangements of language, illustrating the idea that form and content interconnect like muscle and bone.
Muir and McNeil see ideas as the results of discovery rather than invention and consider themselves graphic designers who create type, rather than traditional type designers. Using the options available through the mathematical algorithms of digital design, they continue historical typographic experimentation as has always existed, enabled by the technology of the moment. For instance, designers printing with metal type used multiple passes through the press to play with composition, layering, and legibility. When phototypesetting was introduced, everybody pulled and distorted the type negative as it was exposed to light to create weird, funky, one-of-a-kind effects. The 1990 typeface Beowulf, by Erik van Blokland and Just van Rossum, swapped the PostScript programming commands “lineto” and “curveto” with a new command “freakto,” to generate letterforms with spontaneously random outlines.
We prefer finding new forms and outputs by building extensive root-and-branch systems rather than working within the limits of short-term individual expressions. For us, the notion of individual creativity tends to emphasize the maker rather than the form.
Hamish Muir
What if … ? is one of the most powerful questions in design because it’s directed towards unknown possibilities. By systematically adjusting individual conditions within a defined design space—progressively resetting components, positions, colors, angles, and so forth—the designers exerted a sort of calibrated prescience to the process while embracing errors that led in unexpectedly fruitful directions. While many forms are highly abstract, others are completely legible; the Type Two System is not just a laboratory experiment. MuirMcNeil used it for the flexible but instantly recognizable identity for TypeCon2016, expressed in black and a stunning neon green, lending a future-forward look to the event.
The Two Type System’s systemic yet unexpected results require a willingness to cede control that can be scary for designers, especially if they feel their creative agency diminished. It’s difficult for many to let go of the decision-making so crucial to design and open themselves to chance. Still, trusting in the process can yield delightful and pleasing results. Muir says, “We prefer finding new forms and outputs by building extensive root-and-branch systems rather than working within the limits of short-term individual expressions. For us, the notion of individual creativity tends to emphasize the maker rather than the form.”
The saying “Printing is always a surprise” is a solid truth, in that unplanned (often unwanted) outcomes can and frequently do happen on press. System Process Form is a beautifully printed and thoughtfully planned volume using spot colors overlaid atop one another rather than the more typical four-color printing process. Print designers know that spot colors are impossible to preview accurately on monitors during the design process or even as prepress proofs, yet a vital component of the Two Type System’s DNA is the element of chance. This leads a viewer to wonder how the authors handled that aspect of the completed book in advance—were there any hitches in the print production? Was this, perhaps, the one place where surprises were not embraced but instead methodically eliminated? Surprisingly, no.
McNeil says, “We knew that overprinting three neon inks would be risky and early digital proof simulations proved to be uninformative. Test prints made on production offset-litho machines revealed a vivid new palette – in particular, a ‘neon eggplant’ color made by overprinting neon pink, yellow and blue. It was a totally unexpected result of the process and a very pleasing one.” An admirably bold move! Surprise for the win.
All photography © MuirMcNeil.