Typeface Design for Coolkit

Pen-tip diameter as the only weight axis

Coolkit is a monolinear stencil typeface conceived as a playful, almost therapeutic experiment in mechanical mark-making. A robotic hand uses a ballpoint pen to draw fragments of circles that are assembled into Latin letterforms. Weight variation is achieved solely by changing pen-tip diameter, with no optical corrections or contrast adjustments applied. At heavier weights, excessive ink spread begins to erode the stencil character of the forms.

Set in Coolkit

Insights

Letterforms are built from mechanically drawn circular fragments rather than conventional calligraphic or geometric construction.
The system is strictly monolinear — no stroke contrast or optical corrections were introduced across any weight.
Heavier weights carry a built-in structural tension: increased ink spread undermines the stencil openings that define the typeface's visual identity.