Type:Rider

Gothic, Garamond, Futura, Helvetica, Comic Sans. There are fonts that some people detest, while others are loved immensely. In this app, a surprising combination of video game and book, you travel through the multifaceted history of typography. It all began with the cave drawings in Africa, the hieroglyphics in Egypt and Chinese calligraphy, but it didn't really get going until the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg. From that moment on, one font after another was born: from Garamond, Times New Roman and Clarendon, which shine in transparent simplicity, to fonts made for the computer age, like the boxy Pixel and the playful Comic Sans. Bit by bit, they all come around in the pleasant and original design of this app. Type:Rider takes you on a journey through the history of typography. You play this game as two balls that likely represent a colon, but could also be an umlaut. The levels themselves are primarily composed of letters from a given font, and you'll need to roll and jump your way through them while picking up letters of the alphabet and asterisks. When you've passed a level, a new chapter on the history of typography opens, all written in the font in question. In addition to the app for your computer, tablet and smart phone, Type:Rider also consists of an interactive installation for museums and a social media game on Facebook.