Modular type

This project wants to demonstrate where art ends and where communication starts. Basic geometric shapes have been cut as wood type in three sizes: combined, they form letters, borders, backgrounds and even images. The original idea is at the same time evocative and practical: to give new life to the traditional techniques of printing, by inventing a new way to communicate through fonts. Metal or wood type for setting text by hand is in fact expensive, heavy and it wears out quickly when used: every size has to be cast separately and there are never enough letters in the cases. Wouldn’t it be much easier if letters and words could just be made up from a few geometric bits of metal? This is what Erik Spiekermann and Silvio Antiga asked themselves: a few elements would be enough to set type of all sizes and shapes.