Artificial Typography

What if Noguchi sculpted the letter N? Or Hilma af Klint painted her own initial?

Prior to joining Pentagram as partner, Andrea Trabucco-Campos and designer Martín Azambuja explored this idea in Artificial Typography, an unexpected A to Z in typography and the history of art, imagined by an AI.

The book is a visual journey of a conversation with cutting-edge AI engine, MidJourney. The designers’ role shifted from creator to curator and provoker through language. Letterforms were generated as if the artist themselves had done it, and re-imagining what a letterform can be in the process. For example, the AI was prompted with: “Letter B by Louise Bourgeois, crochet.”

Published by Vernacular, the limited edition book contains 52 artists, and 26 letters, and it is a physical manifestation of a deeply digital process.

Vernacular is a small independent publisher with a focus on the intersection of form, typography and visual culture that stretch beyond the commonly agreed registers of “good design.”

Vernacular is run by partner Andrea A. Trabucco-Campos and designer Martín Azambuja.

The book contains 52 artists, and 26 letters, and it is a physical manifestation of a deeply digital process. 60 pages, 6.5 × 12 inches [165 × 310 mm], OTA bind [softcover, layflat, sewn bound].