Alphabetical Playground: A Typographic Journey Beyond Language

British designer Nigel Cottier explores new typographic frontiers with Alphabetical Playground, a new release from our friends at Slanted that treats the alphabet as an open field for boundless experimentation.

Across its comprehensive 696 pages, the book transforms familiar letterforms into a playground of visual systems, conceptual structures and graphic languages. What began as a collection of variable type studies, abandoned project ideas and speculative design experiments has evolved into a sweeping exploration of how far text can stretch beyond its utilitarian role. Every page demonstrates the alphabet’s potential to transcend communication and become a medium for pure creative expression, from intricate geometric compositions and continuous cursive grids to radical inversions of figure and ground.

Featuring a foreword by Hamish Muir, Alphabetical Playground follows Nigel’s acclaimed 2021 release Letterform Variations and cements his reputation as one of today’s most adventurous type designers. It’s a celebration of language not as something fixed, but as a living system, a “code within a code.” You can learn more about the book and pick up your own copy over at Slanted.

More typography inspiration via Slanted