Brief: Typeface generator & Sinus grid

By Reetta Nykänen — 

DAY1
Bauhaus originated theories and practices form good basis for designing. They consist of different thoughts, even dogms though most of them are based in natural facts found by research. We students might and should know these by now: colour theories, relations in compositions between forms and contrast, dynamics...The information is found in books, but at the end practise of the art is the key to understanding and remembering.

As a consequense a dream brief (borrowing Bauhaus teachers):

-Think of yourself as one of the basic particles:square, triangle, circle (As 3D particles they include hexacon, ball). Move around like one. 


Mathematical laws can be found in the nature and the forms have perfect relations. For sure Bauhaus movement didn't invent them so they also exist in us and our produces as ideas atleast. Ideas (perfect beings) eventually materialize if you have the right method, the sufficient guidance or knowledge of getting into the destination and the time to realize these.

Basically with the Basic Forms anything can be designed. A font, a grid for a font, space with ambience, compositions...Use colour etc. if needed, but according to teachers at the Bauhaus: know what they might express.

DAY3: 2 options for the project
Option 1:
A typeface generator that will generate letters on its own maybe, not by pressing buttons. The typeface is based on a grid design called "Sinus" (Copyrigt R. Nykänen) that consists of basic forms like a circle. We can see if the computer will have real messages for us through automatized generation of the letters on the grid.

The generator will have a slider through which one can control the speed of the animation. It would allow the user to set the right BPM(Beats Per Minute) for the animation if it's played with music, synchronized and used like a VJ software.

The generator works like this: 
A) The grid appears, the design is more interesting with the grid visible. The appearing of the grid is animated perhaps, with the Sinus wave/function, since they both share the form of a perfect circle.
B) The squarelike letter appears suddenly inside the grid. An individual letter can have several outputs/forms, but only one is presented at the time. The grid disappears leaving the letter on stage for half of the time.
C) The letter disappears and the grid swipes through the screen again. Result is an interesting, continuous stream of letters as long as the soft runs. Perhaps we could use the typeface generator as the artistic version of the car license plate generator etc.

POSTER: Infomative and artistic design. We still enjoy drawing ourselves. Humans have different solutions than machines, I assume. The message: Create your own typeface or a whole family with the Sinus grid.

Option 2:
Using Nodebox as a Vj software. Output could be synchronized with music BPM. Different pitches could create different visuals, like apparently in Winamp or different mediaplayers. But apart of that creating CONTROLLERS in Nodebox allows the user IMPROVISE in counterbalance, which is the spirit of VJ:ing, I guess. Interaction.

POSTER: An advertisement of the new method. The poster presents the different visuals the new soft is making.