Type Electives Display Type, Fall 2025
Geo
by Sophie Cooper
Geo is a display typeface inspired by modernist architecture. After a trip to Brazil with my father in June 2025 to look at Oscar Niemeyer’s architecture, I was inspired by his use of archways and bold geometric shapes. Whilst in Brasilia, I was able to talk the guards into giving us a tour of Niemeyer’s Palace of the Arches. The outside structure and inside shapes inspired the letters S, n and o. The letterforms are conceived as sculptural objects, guided by strong geometric contrasts and designed to work individually or in combination as part of an integrated typographic system.
My inital idea was to design a typeface that was inspired by Niemeyer’s buildings which I came back to after many sketches. My main citieria for the design was that it needed to be used for 3D printing, laser cutting and screen printing. This meant that the overall design could not have too much contrast and the shapes needed to be less detailed. Geo will be used as part of my research into Typography as Image investigating how analogue, digital, machine learning and hybrid fabrication processes transform typographic form into image. Geo is a work in progress and I plan to expand to diacritics and a variable typeface version.
It was a very intense 12 week process! I really loved drawing the letters with the pilot pen so I kept going back to drawing to see what I could come up with. After digitising a few letters, I tested them with my 3d printer to see how they looked. At first I tried to make ever letter modular and exactly the same, but quickly realsied that optically and visually they needed to be slightly different to work as a whole. Legibility was never a priority in the design of each letterform, however, I did want the overall design to feel cohesive and use the same shapes. Something I have reaslied from this process is that I really like the shape of condensed letters, something I have never spent much time on!
Sophie Cooper
Sophie Cooper is a designer, maker and educator based in Sydney, Australia. She is the creative force behind Scoops Design, a brand known for it’s sustainable jewellery focusing on bold colours, playful patterns, and destinctive design. Alongside her design practice, Sophie lectures in Visual Communication at the University of Technology Sydney.
