Burrowlab : Developing a parametric type system

Burrowlab is a browser-based, parametric type design tool that transforms the way typefaces are made – replacing outlines with a dynamic system of sliders and logic. It merges mathematical structure with optical nuance, embracing glitches, variations, and living, asemic letterforms in a process rooted in play, not perfection.

Type Design.

Burrowlab is parametrically driven type design software, conceptualised and developed by Philipp Koller, which systematises and reimagines the process of creating typefaces. While digital type design has always involved some degree of manufacturing, Burrowlab formalises the complex rules behind letterforms into a dynamic framework of logic and constraints. Rather than manually drawing paths, users control buttons, sliders and settings while glyphs are generated in real time. Letterforms are defined not by fixed outlines, but by the fluid interplay of numerical parameters and calculations.

It merges a rigorous, geometry-driven system with the nuanced optical refinements that define type design, balancing precision with the subtle imperfections that make type readable and alive.

This research driven approach of parametrisation deals with both the thrill of new possibilities and innovation as well as the hopeless challenge of finding a ​“theory of everything” within a system riddled with exceptions and inconsistencies. So far, Burrowlab is an open-ended project, constantly improving and updating the browser-based software and exporting fonts along the way.

In a world where everything wants to be clean and polished, it is interested in the half-finished, the glitchy, the too weird to use but too beautiful to ignore, at the same time​.By leaning into the tool’s unintended quirks and extremes, you’re not just crafting fonts ; you’re exploring asemic typography — where letterforms dissolve into ambiguous yet intentional glyphs that tease the boundaries of language.

In this updated process of designing a typeface, it becomes a dataset that can be built upon further : Adding effects, making variations. The letters behave less like objects and more like living systems. It’s about play and discovery with the numbers, not just with the shapes they represent.

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