POLY
MONO
POLY
MONO
OC POLY MONO
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How to Play
Each letter of the alphabet is assigned its own shape; repeatedly typing the same character changes the color and rotation of that shape. Changing letter moves onto the next perfectly tiled block. The period and comma freeze a shape in place so it may be repeated next to itself, and the space bar skips a block to leave a gap. With unpredictable color and rotation changes, users are encouraged to switch off logic, engaging in an instinctive and playful process to craft beautiful, serendipitous designs. This innovation hints at exciting applications for brands, showcasing the font’s versatility in creating distinctive visual identities.
Summary:
Keep hitting the same key to reveal color and orientation variations of the same glyph.
Hypen, comma, and period freeze a block in space.
Space is a space.
Return to drop a line.
Only alphabet and numbers have assigned shapes.
Marten is ; and ‘
What’s a mega-ligature anyway?
OK so a ligature is a special glyph in a font that combines two (or more) characters into one. Usually there are a handful like “f-t”,which joins the crossbars of the f and t and tightens the space, so words like “after” look a bit nicer.
That’s generally as far as ligatures are used, and in a serif font they’ll typically go as far as something like three letter ligatures such as “f-f-i”, for example. Cool right?
Yes! But what if we pushed the boundaries of ligatures? What if instead of just combining characters, we used them to transform glyphs in new ways? POLY MONO is all about exploring these questions. Instead of simply combining characters, we’re experimenting with mega-ligatures™ that can join up to eight instances of the same letter. But rather than creating a new glyph, we’re modifying the existing one by rotating it and changing its color. Plus, we’re swapping out the alphabet for geometric shapes. Fun!
Definitions
POLY
A prefix derived from Greek, meaning “many” or “multiple.”
In this case “many” colors used to cycle through the font.
MONO
Another prefix derived from Greek, meaning “one” or “single.”
In this case “one” consistent width (or space) for each character in the font.
MEGA
Another prefix derived from Greek, meaning “large” or “great.”
In this case ligatures made to combine an unusually “large” number of characters.
Free Download
Download the font and play, make, type, jump, and explore to your heart's content.
OC POLY MONO
The world’s first mega-ligature, mono-space, multi-color shape font is a real game-changer. Inspired by the prints of Karel Martens and 8-bit video games, POLY(color) MONO(space) explores the possibilities of what a font can be: its purpose, potential, and how we interact with it.
Each letter of the alphabet is assigned its own shape; repeatedly typing the same character changes the color and rotation of that shape. Changing letter moves onto the next perfectly tiled block. The period and comma freeze a shape in place so it may be repeated next to itself, and the space bar skips a block to leave a gap. With unpredictable color and rotation changes, users are encouraged to switch off logic, engaging in an instinctive and playful process to craft beautiful, serendipitous designs. This innovation hints at exciting applications for brands, showcasing the font’s versatility in creating distinctive visual identities.
Toolbar Key
- Edit Text
- Size/Columns
- Font Size
OVERVIEW
1234567890
OVERVIEW
1234567890
NUMBERS
LETTERS
MARTEN
OG TESTER
MMOOOOOOONNNNNNNNOOO
OG TESTER
MMOOOOOOONNNNNNNNOOO
FULL WIDTH TESTER
WATERFALL
SPECIMEN SHEET
Language Support & Glyph Styles
KOMBINATIONS-SCHRIFT
KOMBINATIONS-SCHRIFT
UPPERCASE
LOWERCASE
NUMBERS
UPPERCASE
LOWERCASE
NUMBERS
Featured By:
Featured By:
Free Download
Download the font and play, make, type, jump, and explore to your heart's content. Zip includes Type Specimen PDF
Free Download
Download the font and play, make, type, jump, and explore to your heart's content.
Bespoke Services
If you love an Otherwhere font and feel that some customization will make it even more perfect for you or your client's needs get in touch we'd love to discuss it with you. ♥
• Color Customization
• Glyph Set Extension
• Wordmark Design
• Font Customization
• Font From Scratch
Reference
POLY MONO evolved from the font PRIXEL Mono which we developed with and for PRIXEL Press. The addition of color and new shapes were partly inspired by analog prints made with PRIXEL Press. Areas of overprint were particularly interesting to recreate with layers in the color font.
Some of these prints were reminiscent of the cover for Karel Martens’ book Printed Matter…
Karel Martens (born 1939) is a Dutch graphic designer, specialized in typography.
Many of Martens’ work ranges from posters, to prints and to editorials, but all have a strong emphasis on typography. He has always been fascinated with language, mathematics and color and he finds a way to incorporate all these interests into his designs.
See more at:
https://martens-martens.com/
And a good read at It’s Nice That:
Karel Martens on paying attention to the things we don’t see
The reference images are from the book “Small Prints“. It features a sequence of unique letterpress monoprints, made by Karel Martens between 2014 and 2022. It’s a delightful exploration of color, composition, and geometric possibilities.
We got our copy at Katherine Small Gallery.
Super Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published in 1985 by Nintendo for the Famicom in Japan and for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America.
Players control Mario to explore the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Princess Toadstool from King Koopa (later named Bowser). They traverse side-scrolling stages while avoiding hazards such as enemies and pits with the aid of power-ups such as the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Starman.
Josef Albers (1888-1976) was a German-born American artist and educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Known primarily as an abstract painter, Albers was also an accomplished designer, typographer, and photographer. A recurring theme in all of his work is the use of geometric arrangements and systematic processes in the exploration of color and form.
Designed in the 1920s during his time as a teacher at the Bauhaus, his Kombinations-Schrift alphabets exemplify this approach. One of the pioneers of Die Neue Typographie, Albers was concerned with ‘the clarity of the message in its most emphatic form’ and with typography as its medium. Kombinations-Schrift is modern, reductivist, and radical. It was intended to be used as display lettering for billboards and signage.
Our hero Marten is a typed entirely using PRIXEL MONO, so, he’s… a font within a font. As a character in POLY MONO he’s a mega-ligature, so tap his keys repeatedly and you can make him run on the spot or jump in your design app or web browser.
Download PRIXEL MONO here, set the text solid (line height = font size) and type lower case keys to create shapes. See what else you can come up with and share your results!
Our hero Marten is a typed entirely using PRIXEL MONO, so, he’s… a font within a font. As a character in POLY MONO he’s a mega-ligature, so tap his keys repeatedly and you can make him run on the spot or jump in your design app or web browser.
e⎺⎺⎺⎺r
⎸ ⎹
aaaaaa
e⎺ ⎺⎺r
⎺aaaz⎺⎺⎺h⎺⎺
azaa q ⎺⎺r
axaa ax y
ia iaaao
⎸ y
uaaa⎺⎺aah⎺
aaaa a a⎺⎺⎺h
l⎺ aa w waa j
k⎽jh ⎹ aa
l aaa
l aaa
aa ⎽j⎺h⎽⎽⎽aaa
aaaa
aaaa
Other Things
