Where is the potential in generative design? When we set up certain rules to be executed by the machine we can generate outcomes that are unique in its way. Within the project »Generative Typo Lab« we were searching for this friction point in generative design applied on typography. There are several approaches to manipulate and rearrange type. On one hand there is the direct manipulation and generation of typography itself, its shape or filling. On the other hand, there is the possibility of changing behaviour, spacing, size, readability, content and movement. In my project I focused more on a generative output than manipulation of appearance. Embedding a daily news API allowed me to access daily updated information of the top news headlines. Implemented in the sketch I came up with the idea of using a random sorted cut-up technique, so that the code will randomly generate a three-line poem: a haiku.

Why a Haiku? I choose the Haiku as an appropriate form, because a Haiku is a very short poetry form, focusing on directness in expression. The idea of using three different news sources to combine headlines out of their normal context should encourage the reader to make up own connections. For me, a very interesting part in generative design is the random factor. To set up an environment in which calculated chance create new pattern or meanings that are leading to a perspective change. This factor of randomness has a huge potential when it comes to content. The information is all out there in the web. The question is more how to interpret them and giving them new meaning through code.