Automation and Artificial Intelligence in the Type Design Process: Insights from an Industry Survey

Automation and Artificial Intelligence in the Type Design Process: Insights from an Industry Survey

Alice Savoie, Kai Bernau, Wayne Daly, Raphaela Haefliger, and Sebastian Baez-Lugo

artificial intelligence; creative practice; ethics; intellectual property; type design

Abstract: This article investigates how automation (both deterministic and artificial intelligence–based) is integrated into professional type design practice, a field with exacting standards of craft and which relies on specific and long-established working methods. Drawing on an online survey conducted in early 2025, alongside detailed follow-up interviews with select type practitioners, we map current practices and attitudes, as well as the perceived risks and opportunities in the field of automation for type design in general, and the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in particular. Data analysis established that deterministic, rule-based automation is near-ubiquitous in type designers’ workflows, and is already used for a variety of tasks such as interpolation, glyphset expansion, and various font engineering tasks. In contrast, AI tools have currently only been adopted by a minority of practitioners, and are largely being used for adjacent tasks such as writing code, gathering project documentation, or generating proofing strings. The majority of respondents expressed strong resistance to automating what they identify as the creative core of their work (e.g., sketching, drafting a basic alphabet, marking proofs), but show willingness to delegate the most labor-intensive, technical operations to software, with kerning repeatedly identified as the leading candidate for further automation—provided that human oversight and decision making remain throughout the process. Ethical concerns (such as training data provenance, lack of transparency, and environmental costs) lead to a cautious attitude towards generative AI, a position also fueled by some expressed anxieties about corporate concentration. We argue that sustainable and worthwhile innovation in typeface design should prioritize assistive tools that are transparent and encourage human decision-making, in order to optimize routine work without compromising iterative practices through which designers acquire judgement. Such tools would ideally balance streamlined workflows with the acquisition and reinforcement of highly specific skills, which in turn enable designers to preserve qualitative typographic standards.

Implications for practice: The integration of automation and artificial intelligence within type design should serve to augment designers’ creative and critical agency. Automated processes can effectively support technical and repetitive tasks—such as spacing, proofing, and data handling—allowing practitioners to concentrate on conceptual and aesthetic decision-making. Transparency and user control are central to this relationship; systems must remain interpretable and open to designer intervention. Ethical considerations warrant continued professional attention as automation becomes pervasive. Collaboration among designers, educators, and developers will be essential to ensure that emerging tools are aligned with the discipline’s values of craft, intentionality, and typographic quality. Sustained engagement with scripting and AI literacy will empower designers to critically shape automated systems within their evolving practice.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; creative practice; ethics; intellectual property; type design

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Author

Alice Savoie is a typeface designer, researcher, and teacher. She holds an MA and a PhD from the University of Reading, where she is currently a Visiting Research Fellow. Her research examines technological change in typographic practice, the place of women in type history, and the role of type design in the digital humanities. She contributes to the research project Reception of the New Typography in Francophone Graphic Scenes, supervised by Professors Catherine de Smet (Université Paris 8) and Davide Fornari (ECAL / HES-SO). She teaches at the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique in Nancy and is a visiting professor on the Master Type Design programme at ECAL / University of Art and Design Lausanne (HES-SO). She lives and works in Lyon.

Kai Bernau has taught type design on the Master Type Design programme at ECAL / University of Art and Design Lausanne (HES-SO), and before that ECAL Master Art Direction, since 2011. His practice, Atelier Carvalho Bernau, designs reading experiences, from typefaces to interfaces, for culture and commerce. Commissions range from publications like the New York Times and Esquire, and publishers such as Walther König and Phaidon, to luxury brand Marsèll, cultural institutions Culturgest Lisbon and Villa Stuck in Munich, to academic clients like Brill publishers, Leiden and University of Warwick. The retail typefaces they created or collaborated on (Neutraface Slab, Publico, Lyon, Atlas, Neutral, Algebra) are used by leading brands and publications around the world. Previous achievements in generative, computer-aided design include a typeface system for Sandberg Institute, and art direction for Octavo publishers, Amsterdam. Kai Bernau holds a Masters degree from Type & Media in The Hague. He lives and works in Porto.

Wayne Daly is a graphic designer and co-director of the design practice Daly & Lyon. The studio focuses on collaborations with cultural and arts clients, producing books, exhibitions, identities and websites. Clients include Barbican Art Gallery, Design Museum, Royal Academy of Arts, Forensic Architecture, Hayy Jameel, Institute of Contemporary Arts, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Sternberg Press, Tate Britain and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König. He holds an MA in Typographic Studies from the London College of Printing and is currently a visiting professor on the Master Type Design programme at ECAL / University of Art and Design Lausanne (HES-SO), where he co-directs the writing and thesis curriculum. He lives and works in London.

Raphaela Haefliger is a graphic designer specialized in art direction, typography and type design. She holds a BA in Graphic Design from the University of Lucerne and an MA in Type Design from ECAL / University of Art and Design Lausanne (HES-SO). Since 2016 she has been working as an independent graphic designer in the commercial and cultural field. In addition to her self-employment, she works part-time at ECAL, Master Type Design and Research Department, ZHdK, MAS Design Direction and F+F: FA Visuelle Kommunikation.

Sebastian Baez-Lugo is a researcher in user experience (UX), cognitive and affective science. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Geneva, conducting his doctoral work at the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (CISA), where he investigated the mechanisms underlying human cognition and emotional processes. Driven by a passion for data analysis and visualization, Sebastian applies quantitative methods and insights from cognitive and affective science to explore how people think, feel, and interact with technology. At the EPFL+ECAL Lab, he leads the UX Research and Cognitive Science activities, overseeing projects that connect applied research with human-centred design in fields such as health innovation, artificial intelligence, and environmental technologies. He also mentors early-career design researchers, and builds collaborations between academic institutions and industry. He lives and works in the Lausanne area.

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Cite this article:
Savoie, A., Bernau, K., Daly, W., Haefliger, R., & Baez-Lugo, S. (2026). Automation and artificial intelligence in the type design process: Insights from an industry survey. Visible Language, 60(1), 24–57. https://www.visible-language.org/journal/issue-60-1-automation-type-design

First published online April 26, 2026. © 2026 Visible Language — this article is open access, published under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.

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