GSA Showcase 2021

A conceptual typeface made using John Conway’s ‘Game of Life’ – a cellular automaton based on a simple algorithm which controls whether the cells should live, die or reproduce. The ‘Code’ derived from my work exploring the themes of non-human (alien) communication systems, however I was also interested to see how would the alphabet evolve if it was an independent organism. In order to achieve this, I have drawn the letters in Conway’s ‘Game of Life’ and recorded their development – some letters eventually disappeared, some have turned to static or endlessly looping shapes from which I have designed the typeface. As I wanted the ‘Code’ to look more lively, I have drawn it by hand. This way the imperfect ‘letters’ create interesting patterns and textures. While trying to put an emphasis on the bizarreness of the typeface, I have paired it with abstract human anatomy pictures which have a strange aura of ‘unfamiliar familiar’.