Three Dots Type explores the importance of arrows and the lettering of 20th Century Polish trains in its experimental typographic work

Move over Francis Bourgeois, there are some new trainspotters in town. Three Dots Type’s recent publication Radical Passion with Torypress is a fascinating visual story about the world’s longest electric train ever produced, the EN57, which was invented in 1962. “This book unveils the untold history of brutal design, visual culture, and the community of radical train lovers,” says the studio’s founder Marian Misiak. Some of the Three Dots Type members were involved in the five-year process of gathering interviews from trainspotters, graffiti writers, model makers, photographers, painters, and train drivers. The studio also designed a typeface for the book called Tor Grotesk, “a new revival of the lettering used on the trains and signage dating back before World War Two”.

Radical Passion is just one of the fascinating projects which has arisen out of the studio’s interest in exploring the “cultural-technical” possibilities of typography. “We are comfortable with ugly or uncoordinated letters as long as they represent something interesting, solve technical issues, or stimulate discussions,” says Marian. Envisioning itself more as a platform and community of like-minded designers than a studio, Three Dots Type has dedicated itself to going beyond mere aesthetic considerations and aims to create its own “typography culture”.

This ambition has taken many forms over the years. The Radius typeface is a lovely example. Designed by Radek Łukasiewicz, Radius is a variable font created specifically so it can be adjusted to fit around shapes rather than along straight lines. The tapering of letters can be changed to make them top or bottom heavy, which means it avoids creating “so-called kinks” (broken forms on the curve). The result is a satisfyingly bulgy, bubbly font which winds around shapes, elegantly hugging their curves and angles. Of course, it would be unlike the studio to stop simply at typography design. With a touch of humour guiding the creative process, the team asked themselves how they could educate people with their curve-hugging font.

They came up with Variable Radius – a Pocket English–French–Polish dictionary of circle-related proverbs. Within its pages, colourful type specimens compare how to express proverbs like “Squaring the circle” in three different languages. “Of course, this concept is a semi-joke,” says Marian. “But the typeface is so bizarre and needs a unique promotional idea, and we believe if you try hard, you can still learn something from it.”

As it transpires, circles are not the only shape which fascinate Three Dots Type. Arrows are highly respected by its members. Conducting research into “many impressive examples of navigational tools used in visual communication”, the studio always creates an additional set of arrows for each of its typeface. As a result, they are experts on the multiple societal functions of arrows. Keen to share this knowledge with the wider public, the studio decided to arrange an exhibition about the subject at the Weltformat festival in Luzer. The exhibition entitled This Way showcased a selection of some of their favourite arrows from their own fonts along with an educational zine about the importance of arrows in our visual culture.

With all these playful experiments already under its belt, Three Dots Type promises to continue its ever more inventive approach to type design, led by its strong conviction that the cultural-technical elements of a typeface are equal in importance to its aesthetic features. Marian concludes with a rallying cry: “Fonts are the future, fonts are culture.”