Hacking AI for Typography
Creative Workarounds for AI’s Limitations
Hello, Typography Enthusiasts! I hope this newsletter finds you well! How has your week been? As for me, I’ve been shifting my focus to YouTube content creation, which, I’ll be honest, has been quite a challenge! As someone who’s more comfortable behind a computer screen designing or coding, recording my voice and editing videos is definitely outside my comfort zone. I’m slowly overcoming these hurdles.
All this effort is for an exciting new project I’ve been working on a YouTube video series called “Typography - The Silent Voice of Society.” This series explores how letters shape our culture!
I’ve always believed that typography has a profound impact on our daily lives, often in ways we don’t even realize. This series is my attempt to bring those hidden influences to light and spark conversations about the power of letterforms. It’s been a journey of discovery for me, and I hope it will be for you too.
Our First Episode: Hacking AI for Typography — Creative Workarounds for AI’s Limitations
In our debut episode, we dive into the world of artificial intelligence and its impact on typography. As someone who uses AI for various tasks like coding and writing emails, I’ve noticed some extreme challenges when it comes to AI and typography — that it just doesn’t work!
When you ask AI to create an image with words, the text is often misspelled or the font looks wonky. It’s usually easier to start from scratch the old way without AI than to fix these AI-generated texts. To work around these limitations, I share three ways to incorporate AI in typography work:
First Idea: Swap Letter Parts with AI-Generated Icons
One way to incorporate AI in typography is to use font as a base but replace parts of letters with AI-generated icons to enhance meaning. For example, you could change the dot of the “i” in “Tinder” with a little fire icon. If you give AI a clear command, it can generate an icon specifically shaped to replace part of a letter, like a circular dragon icon to replace an “o”.
Second Idea: AI-Generated Background Images for Typography
Another approach is to use AI to generate images that complement your typography. Give AI instructions to create non-photo-realistic images in specific styles, like Art Deco or flat graphics. Make sure to specify that you don’t want any text included in the image. This way, you can create backgrounds or illustrations that work well with your typography without the AI attempting to generate text.
Third Idea: AI-Textured Letterforms
The third method involves morphing AI-generated images with letter forms. There’s no host-guest relationship here; instead, you give AI a letter shape as input and ask it to transform it, like making it look like a bubble or fire. The result is a new stylized letter that combines the generated image and the letter form, which you can then compose into your design.
Open Plea
I believe the root of the problem lies in how AI approaches typography. Currently, AI works with pixels directly instead of the raw materials of typography: fonts and text styles. AI companies should license fonts and incorporate typesetting principles into their algorithms. This would allow AI to choose appropriate fonts, apply text styles, and consider factors like tracking, kerning, size, color, and texture when generating typographic images.
You can find this episode and future installments on the Typogram YouTube channel. I’d be thrilled if you’d subscribe and join me on this typographic journey:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1j3w-xESxB7NhbS0ubT6A
Starting this YouTube series is a new adventure for me, and your support would mean a lot. By subscribing, you’ll motivate me to create more content and join a community of typography enthusiasts exploring the impact of letters on our society.
I’m eager to hear your thoughts on the episode and any ideas you have for future topics. What aspects of typography and culture would you like to see explored?
P.S. Don’t forget to check out the video and subscribe to the channel. Your engagement is the best motivation to keep these typography conversations going!