Gallery: A Mind-Bending Font Inspired by a Famous Optical Illusion
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[Frustro](http://usfonts.gestalten.com/frustro.html#) is a typeface based on the [Penrose triangle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_triangle), an Escher-esqe "impossible object" that can't be fabricated by any earthly means.
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Frustro was created by Martzi Hegedűs while studying at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest after he became inspired by the optical illusion.
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“At first I had no intention to make it as a font, but it became quite popular over the internet, so I decided to take up the challenge,” says Hegedűs.
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"There were only a few characters I had troubles with, especially the ones with diagonal lines, like the inequality signs and the square root symbol," says Hegedűs.
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Type foundry Gestalten reached out and offered to distribute the font, transforming it from gimmicky side project to true display typeface.
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Gestalten suggested Hegedűs craft some ornaments—the Penrose triangle was a given, which he followed with a stupefying infinity loop and a perplexing set of stars and hearts.
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Drawing individual letterforms was easy enough, but creating a system that could be used in a professional context was more difficult.
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Hegedűs decided to design the font using a reverse italic, which gave words set in the font an element of dynamism without interfering with any character's personality.
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Presented in the traditional Roman format, the font lost a lot of its kinetic appeal, and an italic slant created confusion with the angled elements of letterforms like "N."
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"I haven't had an opportunity to use Frustro as a font yet," he says. "To be honest I'd rather see what others can do with it."
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Each font stands alone or can be used as an ingredient—by layering the fonts designers can create interesting color combinations and 3-D effects.
