A sponge can be used for dishwashing, or placed under an overheating laptop to let air circulate underneath, or cut into shapes for printing, or used to clean a whiteboard, or... well, you get the idea. A tool can have multiple uses, regardless of how its creator originally envisioned it. Type design itself is about designing tools—creating font files that can be installed on computers and used for design, typing, and more. Yet these design tools must be made with other tools—like Glyphs, like FontLab. So can we make typefaces with things beyond these conventional tools? Perhaps we can.

There are countless ways to create letters, design typefaces, and explore visual ideas. This list brings together tools that Xiaoyuan and her friends have discovered online—some focused on type design, others perhaps completely unrelated. Please remember to review the Terms of Use for each tool, as they're made by various creators. ;-)