Type face: Fonts reflect facial expressions

Copenhagen – Fonts will soon be able express the mood of the typist.

As part of as part of her computational design course at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, MA student Mary Huang is developing software that generates personalised fonts by translating facial dimensions and movements in a typographic photo booth.

When users assume different expressions in front of a webcam, the programme registers the change in their appearance and adjusts the type accordingly. Tilting the head creates italic letters; movements such as yawning, which increase the size of the face, increase font size; while a smile produces fatter letters.

This playful way of typing highlights a wider technological movement towards haptic, intuitive control, a theme that will be explored in our forthcoming Technology Market report.