Kaleidotype is an application that lets you create symmetric patterns (‘kaleidotypes’) from any character of any font. What makes it so special is the interactive nature of the process – the user can manipulate the pattern immediately, which has a fascinating effect.

The name ‘Kaleidotype’ is a mix of ‘kaleidoscope’ and ‘type (face)’. The program really works like a kaleidoscope with characters and produce similarly diverse patterns.

It was created out of passion for typefaces and symmetric phenomena. When I came across the font Hypnopaedia by Emigre, I wanted to create patterns like those myself. However, this is very difficult to do by hand, since you have to move all copies of the original character at the same time and in a perfectly symmetrical fashion. This makes the search for beautiful patterns very hard. A perfect task for a program!

The first prototype was created using REALbasic. It was used for two gift wrapping papers (click on pictures for larger view of detail images).

Through my employer at that time, Buttgereit und Heidenreich GmbH, the cooperation with Verlag Hermann Schmidt Mainz started, who now publish Kaleidotype as an extended product including a transformable cube and a memory board game.