Creating a Magnetic Ornamental Typeface

Erica Gamet

During a particularly heated discussion that flared up because someone not in the graphics industry flippantly declared, “Print is dead!” I stated that—while it’s not going away—a lot of printing would become a niche market. I stand by that claim, especially as I encounter high-end foiled and embossed packaging and watch the letterpress industry chugging along. But this crowdfunding item I recently stumbled on probably needs a new classification for “niche item.” The Fe₂O₃ Glyphs Kickstarter campaign aims to create a truly one-of-a-kind typeface.

Craig Ward is a typographer who has teamed up with biochemist Linden Gledhill to create what they are calling an “ornamental type system.” The glyphs are created by placing ferrofluid—which is basically magnetic ink—between two glass slides and manipulating the fluid with magnetic fields. Once the shapes were created, they were traced by hand and eventually made into photopolymer letterpress plates.


The letterpress plates are being used to create one-of-a-kind prints, which make up a bulk of the Kickstarter rewards. The glyphs are re-arranged for each individual print, which are being printed using Pantone ink mixed with the very same ferrofluid used to create the glyphs. The campaign has been more than fully-funded for the $10,000 goal, the money going to pay for the various printing expenses. In addition to a custom print, each reward level includes a digital version of the 138 glyph ornamental typeface in OTF format. The creators’ answer to the inevitable question, “Why?” was straightforward: “Because science.” Seems like as good a reason as any!