t¥p3w0rld Face Filter

01–24–2020

t¥p3w0rld is our most immersive face filter to date. We initially launched the Dinamo Face Filters platform in 2019, in order to collaborate with 3D artists and extend our type experiments—or just general experiments—into contemporary media. With t¥p3w0rld, users will find themselves transported to a whimsical and somewhat nostalgic landscape reminiscent of the default wallpaper of Windows XP, transformed into a chubby, 3D letterform studded with their own eyes and mouth.

Developed by the Canadian creative technologist Tabitha Swanson for our Dinamo Face Filter collection, t¥p3w0rld features the letterforms of HT Standard, a.k.a Monument Grotesk 3D (our collaboration with Manuel Rossner of HighType). Using the filter’s airbrush feature, t¥p3w0rld users can draw in the sky by moving their fingertips on the screen, or they can explore the expansive space by walking towards other floating letters. “I wanted to evoke a sense of exploration and curiosity,” says Tabitha of the filter. “t¥p3w0rld is surreal, with elements both familiar and totally bizarre.”

Dinamo Tabitha Swanson Typeworld Making Of2

Dinamo Tabitha Swanson Typeworld Making Of1

For Tabitha, the most challenging aspect of the design process was the limitations within SparkAR, the program used to develop filters. “It’s a bit clunky to move around when you’re making such a large filter space, and it doesn’t have the capacities that one is used to when working in another 3D design software,” she says. “SparkAR is very new. Documentation has gotten better now compared to some months ago, but when doing something completely different to what’s out there, like t¥p3w0rld, there’s a lot of self-discovery and experimentation involved. Creating the t¥p3w0rld universe made us feel like adventurers, and we want those using it to feel the same way.”