Metalheart

In 1998, Swedish Designers Anders F. Rönnblom and Andreas Lindholm released the emBox/Brainreactor CD – a disc containing fonts and 3D typefaces for artists to experiment with. After experimenting themselves and gathering contributions from other artists, the designers published their work: a book titled Metalheart. This book, and the assets included contained much more than digital files.

Metalheart, at its core, is entirely abstract. The assets enclosed in the emBox CD seem to be designed for the sole purpose of pushing design software to its limits. Andreas himself states “Brainreactor fonts are something else. Not always readable, very rarely made by hand, and far from perfect. Some people like them, some people don’t.” Considering what computers are capable of now (2025, at the time of writing), it surprises me that this trend hasn’t been revived in much capacity.

Endeavor