Rhythm of Type
A digital version of a typeface created by Geoff Kiss for a series of physical pieces he produced in the 1990s.
Overview
- Type Design
- Art
Rhythm is a typeface designed by Geoff Kiss (1936 - 2005), inspired by the work of Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian. The typeface shares typographic form with Architype Van Doesburg, from the 1919 experimental geometric alphabet by Theo Van Doesburg. It also takes inspiration from the work of Timothy Epps and Christopher Evans on typefaces for machine learning at the National Physical Laboratory, Middlesex, UK.
The digital version of this typeface comes in four variations: Festival, Sunflower, Merry-Go-Round and Black Lines. Festival, Sunflower and Merry-Go-Round; named after the red, yellow and blue colour references used in the pieces, with Black Lines named after Rhythm of Black Lines by Mondrian.
The four variants of the typeface: Merry-Go-Round, Festival, Sunflower and Black Lines.
Geoff’s version of the typeface differs through his unique development of the type into physical form with firm layout principles alongside use of colour. Geoff first started developing ideas of three-dimensional type in the 1970s and expanded this work over several decades. In the late 1980s he focused on a Mondrian-inspired colour scheme, and in 1995 made his first physical piece as part of a series called Rhythm.
Constructed with wooden blocks and painted in primary colours, the starkly defined type is combined with a strict construction methodology. A limit of two layers of blocks dictates the vertical and horizontal lines of type, with no exceptions for angles and strictly no curves. The result is a typeface that embodies the word it depicts, flowing like bars of music.
Geoff continued his work through a series of unique pieces with Rhythm x4, Rhythm x9 and In Our Time. Through these different pieces, Geoff explores adding further layers of blocks, block sizes and variations of the colours.
Rhythm (1998) by Geoff Kiss
Rhythm x4 and Rhythm x9 (1998) by Geoff Kiss
Colour is a critical aspect of this typeface and crucial to the variants. Merry-Go-Round places blue horizontal blocks on top of a red base, as used in Geoff’s Rhythm, Rhythm x9 and In Our Time pieces. Festival is the inverse, as seen in Rhythm x4. Although yellow featured in all of Geoff’s Rhythm pieces, it was most frequently used on the ends of the wooden blocks and not visible with a two-dimensional version of the type. The Sunflower variant places yellow at the narrow intersections of horizontal blocks, visible in the Rhythm and Rhythm x9 pieces. The strict limitations of the wooden block construction always dictate the type design, with the exception of some symbols and punctuation which would otherwise prove impossible. The typeface makes use of some stylistic alternates, as noted from Geoff’s original sketches of the typeface alphabet.
