Modular Typeface Design: Shapes and Contours
Modular Typeface Design: Shapes and Contours frames Type as Program, examining how letterforms emerge from rules, systems, and generative constraints. Students investigate contours, structure, and modular logic to design typographic forms that behave like programmed systems.Project completed for Typography I, Fall 25.
Instructor: Anika Sarin.
This modular typeface, Polycrease, inspired by curved crease origami, blends the straight lines of folded paper with fluid curves to reflect a balance between geometry and motion. The typeface used in the poster mirrors curved crease origami, blending sharp geometry with fluid curves to capture both folded form and techno rhythm.
Dune Rave by Angel Pule Polycrease by Angel Pule
The typeface Celestial Script was informed by the traditions of wood type and blackletter, both of which embody materiality, rhythm, and ornamentation. This poster situates the typeface within a woodblock printing workshop context, reconnecting the digital grid with the physical grain of carved wood. The title, Grain and Stars, reflects this duality: the “grain” symbolizes the textured imperfection of manual craft, while the “stars” represent the modular icons embedded within the typeface and their connection to systems, repetition, and a bold approach.
Grain and Stars by Karina Mora Celestial Script by Karina Mora
A modular, graffiti-inspired typeface and poster rooted in Los Angeles street culture. Influenced by wildstyle graffiti and typefaces like Rase Basic, the work balances legibility and expression. The poster, designed for a fictional street art festival by “The Art Street Collective,” uses textured and layered type to echo graffiti’s raw energy and spirit of resistance.
Art Street by Justin Marroquin Wild Cut by JustinMarroquin
“NEO Circuit Bend” is a modular display typeface that blends the logic of electronic diagrams with the glow and energy of neon tubing, built from consistent strokes and sharp angular breaks. Its grid-based structure and unexpected open forms create a retro-futuristic feel—equal parts circuit board and neon sign—making it ideal for innovative, playful titles and branding. The accompanying poster titled “TechnoFest2025” uses the typeface in relation to the music festival theme and aesthetic.
Techno Fest by Ethan Villanueva NEO Circuit Bend by Ethan Villanueva
This project expands my modular typeface inspired by the 13th-century Rose Window of Notre Dame, turning it into a living typographic system. Influenced by the window’s symmetry and geometry, the design blends structure with decoration, connecting Gothic architecture and modern typography. Applied to a fictional museum exhibition poster, it celebrates the rhythm and craftsmanship of the original window through a contemporary design lens. A typographic poster that reimagines the Notre Dame Rose Window as a modern design system, merging Gothic architecture and contemporary typography through symmetry, rhythm, and structure.
Rose exibition by Kastin Lewis Rose Fenetre by Kastin Lewis
IN_GRID is a modular typeface inspired by Josef Albers’ experimental typography, Art Deco, and Futurism. It simplifies letters into geometric shapes within a 1:3 grid, merging Albers' modernist approach with the boldness of Art Deco and the industrial edge of Futurism. The typeface combines structure with a futuristic aesthetic, emphasizing geometric clarity. The accompanying poster draws on Futurism’s celebration of technological triumph over nature, reflecting the movement’s embrace of an industrial future and harsh rejection of the past.
ENDR Adverstisement By Jolene Vazquez IN_GRID by Jolene Vazquez
This project explores a modular typeface with an amalgamation of Block type font and Outline fonts. The modular name Cyber Block shows its influence inspired by existing cyber style fonts and the idea of contour lines in a more blocked out shape, similar to brutalist fonts. I took the event Neotropolis as my base for the poster event. I used a grid composition, playing around with the way my display type was layered with each other, taking the middle of the poster.
Neotropolis by Elina Avelar CyberBlock by Elina Avelar
My typeface “R3construct” explores Gestalt theory by using shapes and negative space to form letters that the viewer mentally completes. Inspired by the classic wine glass/two-faced illusion painting in my room, the design plays with perception and optical art principles. I expand on this concept through repeated text rings that create the illusion of depth and movement. This is an accompanying poster for an event called “Optical Art Deco”.
Optical Art Poster by Emmanuel Ramirez R3construct by Emmanuel Ramirez
The typeface is inspired by the bold monster fonts of the early 1800s, once used on storefronts and posters to command attention. Designed with thick letters with deep cuts and sharp edges to suggest structure and depth. Built from simple shapes with rounded corners and star details, it repeats easily and feels architectural. The result is a modern design that stands out while staying connected to the space around it. This typeface was used to design a poster that evokes the look and energy of a space war propaganda poster.
Type Poster Space by Adrian aAvarenga Type Alphabet by Adrian Alvarenga
This typeface is inspired by futuristic and space themes seen in Star Wars and Star Trek. Drawing from Paul Renner’s Futura and Bauhaus design, it features clean geometric shapes and even-weighted strokes. The use of negative space, such as the disconnected crossbar in the letter “A,” adds a modern, sci-fi twist. Overall, it’s a sleek, modular font suited for futuristic design and technology applications. Nova Grinds, a futuristic coffee shop, uses this sleek sci-fi typeface to reflect its modern, space-inspired atmosphere where innovation meets daily ritual.
Nova Grind by Jesus Hurtado Alphabet by Jesus Hurtado
This project explores a modular typeface system inspired by the principles of the Gestalt Theory and the Ransom Note Effect. The qualities used in Gestalt Theory: Figure & Ground with the use of black shapes as the negative space around the edges of the grid, which makes the illusion of the positive space form a letter. The Ransom Note Effect style uses the aesthetics of newspaper cutouts with the way that the letters are pretty much boxed in the center of a square. The Murder Mystery Poster was made using Noir Motifs and will belong to a Pop Culture & Media Film Festival.
Murder Mystery by Miranda Perez Noir Motifs by Miranda Perez
Modularis is a Blackletter-inspired typeface that breaks down the basic formal qualities into geometric, repeatable modules for easy contemporary use. Its use in the Key Detail Calligraffit Street Arts event poster recalls Blackletter’s recent emergence from a historical, traditional typeface to something more countercultural in meaning, drawing specifically from the popular art combination of calligraphy and graffiti, or calligraffiti.
Modularis By Piper Kamae Modularis By Piper Kamae
Pixelhairs is a typeface inspired by the pixel font used in old computers and video games. Pixelhairs is meant to be used as an alternative to pixel font or be used alongside it to give it a dynamic style of retro futuristic. The first time Pixelhairs was used as a type font was with this poster presented to you called Pixel. The poster Pixel was made for a gaming convention that dealt with retro and indie games since these genres use pixels for their games.
PIXEL Juan Uriel Alcantara Sanchez Pixelhairs by Juan Uriel Alcantara Sanchez
The Aperï font was inspired by the Art Deco movement of the early 1900s, a style shaped by Cubism’s geometric shapes and Futurism’s focus on modern progress. Unlike the flowing, natural lines of Art Nouveau, Art Deco uses symmetry and clean lines — qualities that form the backbone of Aperï’s design. The poster uses the Aperï typeface with a radial design element, reflecting the symmetry and geometric elegance of Art Deco while adding a sense of movement.
Art Show by Amber Perry
The Aperï by Amber Perry
The Aperï by Amber Perry
This Space Invaders Tournament poster connects to the typography concept inspired by 1980s arcade games. The pixel-based letters, built from squares and triangles, capture the retro look of classic games. Blending nostalgia with a modern twist, the design highlights the typeface’s structured, bold identity and celebrates vintage gaming aesthetics.
Space Invaders Tournments by Brianna Ledezma Retro Spiker by Brianna Ledezma
RecMotion, directly shapes the poster’s visual identity. Its sharp, modular forms echo the energy of 1980s arcade titles, while the layout—featuring warped text, diagonal movement, and stacked elements—translates that retro rhythm into a modern composition, uniting typography and imagery in a dynamic, game-inspired design.
Game Tournament by Gissell Ramirez RecMotion by Gissell Ramirez
The typeface” Subspace” explores the dynamic relationship between negative and positive space. It plays with the human understanding of implied lines with minimal modules. With this in mind, the typeface was used to create a promotional poster for the iconic cyberpunk film, Akira from the 80’s as it explores the emptiness of a possible doomsday.
Akira by Esperanza Padilla Subspace by Esperanza Padilla
The “Moonphase” typeface uses different shapes inspired by different moon phases to form its letters, with each letter is composed with at least one moon phase, having either crescent moons, full moons, or half moons, alongside shapes that allow structure such as slanted bars with two different lengths. This typeface is mostly inspired by existing geometric and abstract fonts, taking references from P22 Constructivist Pro. Its accompanying poster “Moon Fest” further displays a fictional moon/night sky themed concert poster as an example of what “Moonphase” can do for related themes and purposes such as these.
Moon Fest by Rosly Guzman Moonphase by Rosly Guzman
Shapes and Contours frames Type as Program, examining how letterforms emerge from rules, systems, and generative constraints. Students investigate contours, structure, and modular logic to design typographic forms that behave like programmed systems.
Josue Munoz Josue Munoz
Shapes and Contours frames Type as Program, examining how letterforms emerge from rules, systems, and generative constraints. Students investigate contours, structure, and modular logic to design typographic forms that behave like programmed systems.