Mathematical and Puzzle Fonts/Typefaces

Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, and others

Scientists use fonts every day to express their research through the written word. But what if the font itself communicated (the spirit of) the research? What if the way text is written, and not just the text itself, engages the reader in the science?

Below are mathematical typefaces we designed through inspiration which are inspired by mathematical theorems or open problems. Most include a puzzle font: reading them is itself a mathematical puzzle.

All fonts are available to play with as web applications which run entirely in your (modern) browser, including iOS and Android.

For more information, read our paper “Fun with Fonts: Algorithmic Typography” and other papers listed below, or check out media coverage in The New York Times, Science News (text available here), and Gizmodo.


[Integer Sequence Font written in integer sequence font]
Integer sequence font by Éric Angelini, Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, and Carole Dubois, 2023
[Fold N Cut Font written in orthogonal fold & cut font]
Orthogonal fold & cut font by Joshua Ani, Josh Brunner, Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Dylan Hendrickson, Victor Luo, and Rachana Madhukara, 2022.
[Yin-Yang font written in Yin-Yang font]
Yin-Yang font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2021.
[Sudoku font written in Sudoku font]
Sudoku font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2021.
[Everything/Typography written in Everything font]
Everything font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2021.
[Tiling font written in Tiling font]
Tiling font by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Scott Kim, and Yushi Uno, 2021.
[Path puzzles font written in Tatamibari font]
Path Puzzles font by Jeffrey Bosboom, Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Adam Hesterberg, Roderick Kimball, and Justin Kopinsky, 2020.
[Tatamibari font written in Tatamibari font]
Tatamibari font by Aviv Adler, Jeffrey Bosboom, Erik Demaine, and Martin Demaine, Quanquan Liu, and Jayson Lynch, 2020.
[Tetris font written in Tetris font]
Tetris font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2020.
[Cube folding font written in cube folding font]
Cube folding font by Oswin Aichholzer, Hugo Akitaya, Kenneth Cheung, Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Sándor Fekete, Linda Kleist, Irina Kostitsyna, Maarten Löffler, Zuzana Masárová, Klara Mundilova, and Christiane Schmidt, 2019.
[Impossible folding font written in impossible folding font]
Impossible folding font by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Tomoko Taniguchi, and Ryuhei Uehara, 2019.
[Dissection font written in dissection font]
Dissection font by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Donald E. Knuth, and Yushi Uno, 2018.
[Ada font written in Ada font]
Ada font by Ada Bienkowska, Erik Demaine, and Martin Demaine, 2018.
[Checkers font written in Checkers font]
Checkers font by Jeffrey Bosboom, Spencer Congero, Erik Demaine, and Martin Demaine, and Jayson Lynch, 2018.
[Spiral Galaxies font written in Spiral Galaxies font]
Spiral Galaxies font by Walker Anderson, Erik Demaine, and Martin Demaine, 2018.
[One-Fold Silhouette Font written in one-fold silhouette font]
One-fold silhouette font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2018.
[Coin Sliding Font written in coin sliding font]
Coin sliding font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2018.
[String Art Font written in string art font]
String art font by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, and Petros Vrellis, 2017.
[Strip Folding Font written in strip folding font]
Strip folding font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2017.
[Voronoi Font written in Voronoi font]
Voronoi font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2017.
[Fold N Punch Font written in fold & punch font]
Fold and punch font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2017.
[Fold N Cut Font written in simple fold & cut font]
Simple fold & cut font by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, and Katie Steckles, 2016.
[Tangle font written in 56-Tangle font]
Tangle font by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, and Ronald Taylor, 2016.
[Juggling font, trajectory and still-of-animation form]
Juggling font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2015.
[Card shuffling font, without intermediate permutations]
Card shuffling font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2015.
[Glass cane font, solved and puzzle form]
Glass cane font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2014.
[Linkage font, puzzle form] [Linkage font, solved form]
Linkage font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2014.
[Glass squishing font, unsquished form] [Glass squishing font, squished form]
Penland glass squishing font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2014.
[Origami maze font, crease-pattern form [Origami maze font, 2D form
Origami maze font by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, and Jason Ku, 2010.
[Conveyer belt font, puzzle form] [Conveyer belt font, solved form]
Conveyer belt font by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, and Belén Palop, 2008.
[Hinged dissection font]
Hinged dissection font by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine, 2003.

Other Related Fonts

Here are some other fonts in the same genre as the mathematical/puzzle fonts above, but by other people.

[Peg solitaire font]
Peg solitaire font by Taishi Oikawa, Kazuaki Yamazaki, Tomoko Taniguchi, and Ryuhei Uehara, BRIDGES 2017.
[3x5 origami font]
3 × 5 origami font by Yoshihisa Matsukawa and Jun Mitani, 2016.

Papers

Here are papers we have written about mathematical/puzzle fonts/typefaces, including both surveys and research papers that include fonts:

Last updated May 22, 2023 by Erik Demaine.Accessibility