The Alphabet Synthesis Machine

Submitted by Morbus Iff on Wed, 2002-02-20 00:34

I've always loved fonts and the markup and appearance of language, and now I've the ability to randomly generate entire alphabets:

The ALPHABET SYNTHESIS MACHINE is an aid to explorers of the liminal territory between familiarity and chaos. An interactive Java applet, the Machine invites you to evolve the letterforms of a personalized "alien alphabet": the possible writing system of your own imaginary civilization. The abstract alphabets produced by the Machine can be downloaded as PC-format TrueType fonts, and are entered into a comprehensive archive of user creations. The products of the Machine probe the liminal territories between familiarity and chaos, language and gesture.