Daniel Gross 
Joris Maltha When doing design, friction is kind of the point.
We will explore the role of friction in design through Marjoree, a variable type family inspired by Marjorie Rice (1923–2017), an amateur mathematician who discovered new pentagonal tilings and developed a notation system to describe them in the 1970s. The primary focus will be on her story and the discoveries she made and on two experimental modular type styles that were based in part on Rice’s work.
As graphic designers and design educators we notice a slow shift toward frictionless design tools that prioritise efficiency over exploration. While convenient, this ignores vital parts of the design process: curiosity, surprise, and above all, failure. We believe that designers should critically engage with their tools rather than passively adopting them. To us, tools are never just a means to an end. The choice for a tool is a design decision that plays a crucial role in the work we make. The story of Marjorie Rice encourages a D.I.Y. approach to the development of working methods, a message we believe is vital in a time that champions frictionless creation and seamless computing.
Typefaces are of special interest to us as they are both tools, and designed objects.
As an example of how friction drives the design process we will look at the shape-shifting potential of the variable font format. Master compatibility and linear interpolation stymie over-enthusiastic expectations of what can be achieved beyond variations on a theme. It is challenging to shift between two styles with completely different properties and have the interpolations be useful variations too. To achieve this, we felt developing a modular typeface would be a promising approach. With this in mind, we incorporated Rice’s Type 9 pentagonal tiling, a discovery she made in 1976.
The type family was published in 2024 with Bernd Volmer of Showmefonts.com in Berlin.