Events
Type Design Between Craft and Automation
with Måns Grebäck
AI has the potential to reshape the craft of type design. What remains human when automation becomes part of the creative process?
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Type design has always evolved alongside new technologies. From metal type to digital tools, every major shift has automated parts of the process while expanding what designers can create. Artificial intelligence is the latest step in that history—but it also feels different, because it appears to participate in decisions once considered uniquely human.
This lecture explores AI not as an autonomous designer, but as a predictive system that extends patterns from existing inputs. In type design, where a handful of drawn letters can define an entire typeface, prediction and interpolation have long been part of the process. AI can accelerate these mechanisms without replacing the role of the designer.
Rather than asking whether AI will replace type designers, the lecture examines how authorship, judgment, and intent remain firmly in human hands. As automation lowers technical barriers and redistributes effort, the value of design shifts toward defining direction, making critical decisions, and understanding the broader system behind a typeface.
The discussion places AI within the longer history of technological change in type design, arguing that while tools continue to evolve, the designer remains the author of the work.
Letterform Lectures are a public aspect of the Type West postgraduate program. The series is co-presented by the San Francisco Public Library, where events are free and open to all.
Måns Grebäck
Måns Grebäck is a typeface creator and artist with over 15 years of professional experience in typography. Drawing has been a natural part of his life since childhood, and a fascination with letters eventually grew into a lifelong pursuit of type design. Today, he has created hundreds of original typefaces used by designers, brands, and creatives around the world.
From elegant serifs and flowing scripts to bold display fonts, every typeface begins with the same ambition: to create something distinctive. Inspired by hand lettering, calligraphy, graffiti, and everyday visual culture, the philosophy behind the work is that it should have personality.
While rooted in traditional craftsmanship, his work continues to evolve through new tools and technologies. By combining artistic curiosity with technical precision, he explores new ways to shape the future of typography while staying true to the expressive character that defines his work.
