Gallery: Mad Scientist Makes an Alphabet Out of Bizarre Ferrofluids
Craig Ward and Linden Gledhill0103-Unmounted-print
These spidery, coral-like designs aren't just doodles. They form the Fe~2~O~3~ Glyphs alphabet.
Craig Ward and Linden Gledhill0201-Original-Fe2O3-glyph
Craig Ward, an ex-ad man who creates unorthodox typographies, and Linden Gledhill, a biochemist who develops cancer therapies by day and conducts otherworldly chemical experiments in his extracurricular hours, made the type system together.
Craig Ward and Linden Gledhill0303b-Unmounted-print
In his lab, Gledhill experimented with ferrofluids (magnetic fluids) by spinning droplets of it between two glass plates. With every spin, the liquid would scatter into a unique, snowflake-like configuration.
Craig Ward and Linden Gledhill04Fe2O3-138glyphs-grid
Ward is a designer, so saw the configurations and immediately thought of symbols, or hieroglyphics. Together they chose 138 of the designs and made them "type" characters.
Craig Ward and Linden Gledhill0507-glyphs-in-typedrawer
Letterpress prints of the type system are available through the duo's Kickstarter campaign. As for the font's usefulness? That's up to its admirers to decide.
