InkTrap

Tools

This page present a short list of useful tools and resources recommended in this course. Some have been adopted in such an integral way, that custom adaptations have been developed

Custom Course Tools (InkTrap / Ligatures):

  • Ministry of Silly Bracketts: A roman capital serif transition visualizer/explainer;
  • Neuland: a random symbol generator for pencil/pen/brush practice;
  • Slotype: a custom recipe/brief generator, in the flavor of Type Cooker (see also the original v4 version, the CEDARS version/edition and the soon to come Game/Ludic/Pictionary 2026 edition);
  • SWIFT: a “drag & drop” variable font tester on VR. Based on Ana Sofia Coelho’s MDGPE research and the SiX research Project.
  • Type Vectors: a simple drag-n-drop vector data (on and off curve point) renderer that exports the outlines and BCPs as an SVG for print or play! 😉
  • VarPlay: this tool is probably the most useful tool in the collection to make the final quality assessment of digital variable font files. It is a mashup of very popular and widely adopted production and testing tools such as Miguel Sousa’s Adhesion Text, Dinamo’s Font Gauntlet, and HAL Type Pad all together with a couple of cool little original small features. Merged the vector data parser from Type Vectors—now it allows for a comprehensive QA assessment 😉
  • VI-OCR: a drag & drop variable font image compositions vision impairment simulator. Based on Hugo Carvalho’s MDGPE research.
  • NoordzijRender: Destruct: A small web app to quickly visualize the variable design space (much like Noordzij’s cube), where the user can quickly cycle and animate/interpolate through the available glyphs to check for problems and print the font’s design space
  • Letterpress Fabricator: a small web app developed to quickly make 3D printable letterpress files of the glyphs (sorts) of the students’ variable fonts to be able to use in the Printmaking (letterpress) workshop.

External (and very popular tools)