Mycelocity is an experimental typeface project that explores the relationship between urban infrastructure and ecological systems.
Inspired by the structural similarities between slime mold networks and the London Underground map,
the project investigates how typography can visualise cities as living, adaptive organisms.
Rather than treating transportation systems as purely engineered structures, Mycelocity reinterprets them as ecological networks that grow, branch, compete, and evolve. The resulting typeface balances biological expression with legibility,
creating a visual language that exists between nature and the city.
■ Overview
Nature Meets Infrastructure
To develop the visual language of Mycelocity, I explored two parallel systems: slime mold networks and the London Underground map. Although one belongs to nature and the other to the built environment, both reveal similar patterns of growth, connection, and adaptation. By extracting letterforms from each system, the project investigates how typography can bridge ecology and urban infrastructure.
To develop the visual language of Mycelocity, I explored two parallel systems: slime mold networks and the London Underground map. Although one belongs to nature and the other to the built environment, both reveal similar patterns of growth, connection, and adaptation. By extracting letterforms from each system, the project investigates how typography can bridge ecology and urban infrastructure.
Rather than copying their appearance, the project studies the underlying structures of both systems. Their shared logic of branching, connectivity, and organisation forms the conceptual foundation of the typeface.
Reading the Language of Slime Mold
Extracting Organic Letterforms
Letters were identified and traced directly from photographs of slime mold. Instead of copying its appearance, this process focused on understanding its branching patterns, filament structures, and organic rhythm, establishing a visual vocabulary for the typeface.
Biological Characteristics
Slime mold grows through adaptive networks that continuously connect, divide, and reorganise. Instead of following predetermined paths, it responds to its environment by forming efficient connections through branching filaments and interconnected nodes.
These biological characteristics became the foundation of the Mycelocity typeface. Variations in line weight, branching structures, node formations, and organic movement were translated into typographic elements, transforming the behaviour of slime mold into a readable visual language.
■ Extraction
Discovering Typography Within Infrastructure
The London Underground map was used as the structural foundation of the typeface. By tracing existing transit line connections, all 26 uppercase letters were extracted from the network. These letterforms reveal hidden typographic possibilities embedded within urban infrastructure.
The London Underground map was used as the structural foundation of the typeface. By tracing existing transit line connections, all 26 uppercase letters were extracted from the network. These letterforms reveal hidden typographic possibilities embedded within urban infrastructure.
Extracted uppercase letterforms from the London Underground map.
The final typeface was developed by combining the organic visual language of slime mold with the structural framework extracted from the London Underground map. Rather than simply overlaying the two references, the process focused on identifying their shared characteristics—branching, connectivity, nodes, and growth—and translating them into a unified typographic system.
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①
Slime Mold Reference
Organic letterforms traced from
slime mold structures,
capturing branching patterns
and biological growth.
②
Underground Structure
Letterforms extracted from
transit line connections,
preserving the geometry and rhythm
of the London Underground map.
③
Mycelocity
The final typeface merges biological aesthetics with urban infrastructure, transforming transportation networks
into living typographic forms.
■ Aa-Zz
■ Motion
To further express the behaviour of living systems, the typeface was developed into
a dynamic animation inspired by the growth of slime mold.
Each animation was hand-drawn frame by frame, allowing the letterforms to gradually expand, branch, and evolve.
Beginning as a small white form, the letters grow outward as a bright yellow glow spreads through the structure
before fully occupying the entire letterform.
The transition from white to yellow represents the gradual emergence of living networks,
while the expanding form echoes both the growth of slime mold and the continuous development of
urban transportation systems. Rather than remaining static, the typography behaves as an evolving organism,
reinforcing the project's central idea that cities are living ecological
networks shaped by movement, connection, and adaptation.
■
Publication
The specimen zine extends the Mycelocity typeface beyond individual letterforms into an editorial format.
Through experimental typography, layouts, and visual compositions, the publication documents the project's research,
development process, and final typeface while exploring the relationship between urban systems and ecological networks.
■ Sticker Application