Typography advanced systematicfuturistuncompromising

Crouwel Grid Alphabet

Crouwel Grid Alphabet example frame

Letters constructed only from horizontal and vertical strokes on a coarse grid.

What it does

Wim Crouwel published New Alphabet in 1967 as a response to early cathode-ray typesetting, which could not render diagonals or curves. Every letter is built from horizontals and verticals on a visible grid, so several are barely recognisable and Crouwel presented it as a theoretical proposal rather than a working face. Brett Wickens revived it for Joy Division's Substance. It is legibility sacrificed to system on purpose.

The prompt

[Subject] set in a Crouwel-style constructed grid alphabet. Every letterform built only from horizontal and vertical strokes of one uniform weight on a visible coarse square grid, no diagonals and no curves anywhere, so some characters are barely recognisable. Grid lines faintly visible behind the type. Black on white, flat, systematic, no ornament.

Replace [Subject] with what you are shooting. Everything else is deliberate: the gear, stock and lighting are what push a generator towards this look.

Works well in

Ideogram, Midjourney, FLUX

Pairs with

Coarse BitmapSwiss International Style

The Prompt Atlas

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