The forms of artificial reading
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The Papyrus predicament: Matteo Bologna’s journey with AI.
Matteo Bologna, the founder of branding agency Mucca, and foundry, muccaTypo, is allergic to trends. Bologna’s work for Human Types flirts with the idea of AI’s growing influence by imagining an AI that unearths forgotten personal preferences. Bologna explores the symbiotic relationship between humans and technology, offering a thought-provoking perspective on the future of design.
Words: Monotype
How did your creative life begin?
I began drawing in kindergarten, often instead of paying attention to the teacher. It continued through primary school, likely due to ADD. After high school in Europe, which is more like a vocational school, I chose artistic studies. I enrolled in architecture school but practically didn’t go because I began working as an illustrator. Eventually, I bought a Mac and discovered graphic design, which I found more enjoyable than illustration. So, I became a graphic designer.
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Tell us about the birth of Mucca.
Mucca started as a freelance project when I moved to New York City at age 29. I had so much work that I had to incorporate and start a company. Initially, I focused on publishing, book design, and branding before shifting entirely to branding, as book design work was slowing down. We used to design hundreds of book jackets a year. Each book is a brand on its own, so we learned a lot about using different typefaces. Discovering new typefaces and not only looking at them, but using them, was incredible. We became very skilled at trying different typefaces; it was like practicing an instrument. In branding, the projects are longer, but there’s less opportunity to experiment as much: you try out different typefaces, but you don’t actually publish them. But we are glyphs maniacs, we try to make custom type whenever we can.
“I believe that at a certain point, there might not be much distinction between humans and AI. We’re going to be in symbiosis with semi-sentient technology.” Matteo Bologna
What makes your creative approach unique?
I don’t know, maybe it’s the Italian accent? We try to avoid trends and create work that doesn’t look boring. I loathe the overuse of sans-serif typefaces for logos. I wish I could transform every sans-serif into a decorative typeface from the 1800s, but I’m not a hacker. We strive to create work that’s not predictable, or if it is, there’s always a twist.
How do you see AI playing a role in your work?
It’s slowly creeping in, mainly helping with email reviews. We don’t use it much for inspiration, though we probably should. AI is both fascinating and frightening; it’s becoming a super commodity, like electricity. It’s inevitable that AI will become deeply integrated into our lives.
Can you tell me about your work for Human Types?
It was mostly a joke about AI becoming so pervasive that it knows everything about your desires and needs. The story I wrote humorously is about an AI that knows you so intimately, but it reveals forgotten parts of your past (like my love for the Papyrus font) because it doesn’t know any better. I had so much love for Papyrus when I discovered it, and I still feel a bit ashamed about that, but it’s actually an amazing font. If AI took over my world, it would show me everything that looks like Papyrus.
As part of the project, I worked with Rainer Scheichelbauer from Glyphs to build a mini plug-in that “Papyrusizes” any font, you can play with the plug-in below. In an ideal world, I’d love a variable slider where the closer you get to the end of a webpage, the more Papyrus-like the text becomes. However, it’s a programming nightmare due to the complexity of the font. We’re still working on it.
Highway to Helveyrus
What are your thoughts on humans and AI working together?
I believe that at a certain point, there might not be much distinction between humans and AI. We’re going to be in symbiosis with semi-sentient technology. It’s hard to predict how it will manifest; AI is going to be in our devices, our headphones, our glasses, in the ether. Everything will have e‑inks that are super high-resolution and don’t need to be charged. We might live in a world soaked in AI, communicating through text, images, or videos. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it seems inevitable.
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Type Trends 2025. The latest in type design, from the Monotype Studio.