TEODOR CRISTIAN MATEI
Blox
Exhibition Design
Product Design
Design System
Typography
The conceptual foundation of Blox lies in its unique approach to incorporating typography into a tactile gaming experience. Blox transforms abstract typographic principles into concrete, interactive challenges by utilising geometric shapes. Players manipulate these shapes to create patterns, and explore the relationships between different forms while gaining a deeper understanding of typographic design.
A key source of inspiration for Blox is Johanna Drucker’s work, “Graphesis: The Visual Form of Knowledge Production.” Drucker argues that all visual language systems can be reduced to basic geometric forms—circles, triangles, squares, and arches. This perspective informed the development of Blox, guiding me to distil complex typographic concepts into simple, manipulable shapes.
By analysing and deconstructing letters, I discovered abstract shapes with distinct features reminiscent of the original letters. These shapes became the foundation for a game I created. I arranged selected letters from the alphabet (a, b, e, g, k, n, p, r, s, and x) in a 6x6 grid, utilising the Neue Haas Grotesk Bold font to enhance their aesthetic appeal.
Through this process, I identified unique aspects and characteristics of these letters, which served as the basis for developing a systematic approach. This system can be utilised in various ways, such as designing new fonts or creating different shapes that actively engage and stimulate creativity. The exploration of these letter forms and their subsequent transformation into abstract shapes opened up possibilities for novel design expressions.
This endeavour aimed to inspire and encourage innovative thinking, ultimately fostering creativity through the playful interaction with the established shapes system.