Unit Editions crowd-funds new book, System Process Form, from MuirMcNeil studio

Design studio MuirMcNeil – made up of typographic designer Paul McNeil and designer Hamish Muir – is fundraising for its latest venture, System Process Form, on Volume, due to be published through Unit Editions.

Written By: Olivia Atkins

5 December 2022

Colourful geometric pattern of overlapping circles in browns, oranges, blues, pinks, yellows and greens displayed across an open book on a bright blue background

With guaranteed worldwide distribution through Thames & Hudson, the book aims to raise £60,000 in funds for its publication – with the fundraiser running until 6pm on Friday 23 December 2022.

Volume donators will be eligible for a series of rewards, such as a standard or Collector's Edition of the book, with each supporter receiving a selection of two typefaces to encourage the development of their own designs.

System Process Form will provide a detailed look at the studio's 'two type system', as well as include an extensive collection of geometric alphabets to share the design process behind creating across every stroke, shape, letterform and word.

The book will demonstrate the power of systematic approaches to form-giving and how these can be applied to visual communications while freeing designers from limited confines and understandings of ideas and typographic expression.

Abstract geometric composition in hot pink and white with dark brown rectangular shapes, showcasing MuirMcNeil's typographic design system

Open pages of System Process Form book showing bold black geometric typeface designs with circular letter elements on white paper against a bright blue background

Open pages of System Process Form book displaying geometric typeface designs in pink and blue, showing various letterforms and systematic design variations

It will also share how the two type system can be worked across analogue and digital mediums, algorithmic and fortuitous forms to create a predefined and wildly unpredictable creative result – using an assortment of numbers, rules, conditions and permutations. All will be more thoroughly explained in the book – including its composition of eight family groups across the design space and tips on positioning the precise elemental alignment for typographic shapes and spaces.

With a series of published examples so that readers can better understand the limitless design compositions available from the fonts, it will be an ideal manual for designers seeking to understand the formula involved for all glyph combinations with specified fonts, sizes, tracking, line spacing, and offsets revealed.

Two open pages from System Process Form displaying geometric typographic designs and algorithmic letterform variations in black and white

Open book displaying colourful horizontal striped geometric patterns in blue, pink, green, yellow, orange and purple on white pages against a blue background

Open book displaying colourful geometric abstract designs and typography by MuirMcNeil in bright hues of purple, green, red, yellow and blue on dark background

Systemic methods in graphic design, type design and moving image are very much MuirMcNeil's specialised area of focus, as well as understanding how to use design for cultivating energy and effectiveness.

System Process Form is MuirMcNeil's first publication with Unit Editions since their 2010 U:D/R project, ThreeSix. To back the project and donate your support, bringing to life the "ultimate typographic experiment", visit the fundraiser here.