‘Frustro’, A Mind-Bending Typeface That Is Geometrically Impossible

By Syafiqah Omar, 28 Mar 2012

Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher continues to be an inspiration for designers today who like to create mind-bending works.

One such person is 25-year-old graphic designer Martzi Hegedűs from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts.

Hegedűs has created an Escher-inspired typeface called ‘Frustro’, two-dimensional alphabets that also look like 3D projections.

Upon closer examination though, the letters of the alphabet appear geometrically impossible.

The font applies the Penrose triangle concept, taking the top-left and bottom-right portion of each character from a 3D typeface, and combining them into an impossible result as it seems to be facing two different directions.

“At the beginning I did not expect Frustro to be used,” he tells Fast Co. Design. “However, I started to make it as a computer font just for the challenge.”

Hegedűs is now finalizing an OpenType version to be made available more widely.