Phosphor for Tectonic Typefaces—talk
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Abstract
Phosphor is a humble text-based tool/workflow for creating fonts. It offers an alternative approach to type design compared to traditional GUI and WYSIWYG vector font editors. In Phosphor, glyphs are represented in text, similar to ASCII art, and are accompanied by metadata stored in a YAML frontmatter. These textual glyph representations are converted into SVG using custom Python scripts and then assembled into a vector font via the FontForge scripting interpreter. From a single textual glyph representation, multiple vector glyph variants can be generated.
Conceptually inspired by tectonic crafts such as cross-stitch, bricklaying, and mosaics, representing glyphs in text imposes constraints while facilitating collaboration and version control. At the same time, script-based conversion to vector glyphs enables algorithmic manipulation, allowing users to extend the tool beyond its original scope. Phosphor proposes text as both a design medium and a means of collaboration.
In this presentation, we will demonstrate how Phosphor works through a live demo and explore its features, possibilities, and limitations. We’ll also consider how Phosphor relates to similar projects and tools, as representing glyphs in text or manipulating them algorithmically is far from a new idea. Finally, we will look at specific examples of projects created with Phosphor, and how this tool/workflow reconfigures type design while fostering collaboration and experimentation.
Workshop
Also see the related workshop Phosphor for Tectonic Typefaces