Type & Music

In the process of producing Greta Sans, we noticed that some of the mathematic principles behind the creation of this typeface family could be translated into a musical composition. So we created a small movie using interpolations of various styles of Greta Sans, and also created a diagram of the design space that could be converted into a musical space.

We approached Georgi Sztojanov, a composer from The Hague, to create the music. Georgi followed the visual map, matching visual parameters to musical ones. To reflect the constant, fluid change of the video, he used a single instrument, a piano, and two parallel, repetitive melodic lines.

The two basic parameters of the type family were interpreted by musical devices. Dynamics were used to translate the weight of the letter, so the music gets louder as it the letters get bolder. The width is expressed through the use of modulation, using the 4th and 7th degrees of the C major scale, playing the same musical motive.

Everything works together: the shapes become the music, which becomes the colour, which reacts to the type.