Fold & Punch Font

This typeface illustrates how to make each letter of the alphabet by taking a square piece of paper, folding it flat, punching a single hole, and unfolding. It is part of the Asao-Demaine-Demaine-Hosaka-Kawamura-Tachi-Takahashi paper which introduces and solves the fold-and-punch problem. These letter foldings were designed by hand to be as simple as possible, using the ORIPA software. Amusingly, M and W use the same crease pattern, without rotation or reflection.

There are many font variations for you to play with. • The “Puzzle Font toggle decides whether to show just one hole (leaving the letter as hidden within the puzzle), or show all the holes that will result (revealing the letter, which is the default). • The “Crease Pattern toggle decides whether to show the crease pattern (with valleys in blue and mountains in red, the default), or just highlight the resulting holes (which is easier to read). This option does not work in combination with Puzzle Font. • The “Grid” toggle shows an underlying 4 × 4 grid that served as a guide in design.

To fold and one-punch a letter in practice, here is a 26-page printable PDF of all the letters with their creases patterns.

Check out other mathematical and puzzle fonts. • Feedback or not working? Email Erik.