a typeface
inspired by wim crouwel

a little background.

during college, i became a little... obsessed with a dutch designer named wim crouwel. his work "the new alphabet" was an experiment into deconstructed letterforms; designed to push the boundaries of (what was then considered new) crt computer monitor technology.

the letterforms were composed solely of vertical and horizontal lines, and was borderline illegible. very avant-garde. fun stuff. i set out to redesign the new alphabet to be make things legible and usable in the modern era.

during my experiments, i found that the face worked exceedingly well as body copy in addition to headlines!

this case study is typeset entirely in wim. rad.

the new
alphabet was 
over-the-top, 
and really 
never meant
to be used. 

it was
unreadable.

wim crouwel,
interviewed on his 80th birthday

1967.
Design & 
Technology
 Meet.

Recent advances in computing technology & digital phototypesetting 
called attention to theneed for a specialized typeface designed for 
low-resolution CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors. Early CRT  screens functioned at a very low resolution, and worked on a strict
grid system of pi x els. 

This made displaying text exceedingly difficult.

Neutrality
[in design]
has it's own 
aesthetics.

wim crouwel