The Alphabet's Bastard Children

the alphabet's bastard children

Ever since Alef and Bet, we have taken their existence for granted. But the letters are beset by mutation. They writhe, they shift, and in the end they succumb to the erosive force of changing media. They have had to retrofit to survive. Steal to flourish. Hack upon hack. It was inevitable that this would happen. Witness now their twisted progeny.

	Diploid Perversity! Michael Schmitz encodes familiar fonts with diploidal genes and breeds them with, shall we say, mixed results. genoTyp.
	Subliminal Innovation! Graham Hicks uncovers the inherent brilliance of handmade signage, with Found Typography. Meanwhile, Kibo makes fun of same, in Lettering with a Capital Hell.
	Groupthink in Action! Kevan Davis taps the collective consciousness for the ultimate in design-by-committee with The Smaller Picture.
	Genetic Manipulation! Golan Levin, Jonathan Feinberg and Cassidy Curtis grow fresh nonsense from rootstock with their Alphabet Synthesis Machine.
	Algorithmic Frankenfonts! Matt Chisholm deconstructs, reconstructs, and generally raises hell with his Alphabet Soup project.
	Cultural Imperialism! See Paul Haeberli plunder ten million character-years of glorious Japanese graphic tradition, and emerge with a beautiful, shining Kanji/Roman Alphabet.
	Graphic Contortionism! Watch silently as Scott Kim tortures sense from calligraphy with his Inversions.
	Gonzo Post-Modernism! Show respect for the illegible. Read the Codex Seraphinianus.
	Balls-Out Hubris! Apparently alphabets just aren't good enough for some people! Witness the valiant efforts of mortals to change the course of human thought.
	Family Photos Snapshots from the tangled lineage: Pantographia. Glagolitsa. More.
	Evolution in Progress Calligraphy isn't dead, it's just changed venues. The real stuff is on the walls. Art Crimes. ("A" appears courtesy of German graf artist SCUM.)
	Hybrid Vigor When alphabets interbreed, does it make them stronger?
	It Continues The very technology that froze alphabets solid now asks us to change our habits.