Pentagram designs branding that references machine learning

Pentagram tapped into Graphcore’s artificial intelligence (AI) expertise to create a visual identity inspired by machine learning. The design agency has developed a typeface that features multiple versions of each letter at different resolutions to reflect how machines process information by consuming huge amounts of data and piecing together smaller fragments to establish context.

‘These low-resolution fragments of images are how a machine perceives the world, recognising small objects and pairing smaller objects,’ says Jody Hudson-Powell, partner at Pentagram. ‘We are interested in this idea of resolution. They can be broken down from perfect and organic – our perception of the world – to minute, pixelated fragments.’

The typeface can be programmed to generate different shapes as a user types or modified to suit a particular mood or need. For example, the letters could become smooth and organic to suit a social topic, or pixelated to suit technology-focused content.