Alternative Layout Systems

Published October 16, 2026

By FontsInUse

Contributed by ToSupply

Alternative Layout Systems is a graphic research project lead by Giliane Cachin that rethinks paragraph formatting, inspired by techniques from Hebrew and Arabic manuscripts to challenge conventional layouts. Created with Adobe’s plugin tools, the project gave rise to the Alternative Layout System Plugin, now available as free download on the project’s website. This publication documents the research. It consists of two parts: the first presents the plugin various features while the second highlights how different designers have used it.

As one of the designers Giliane contacted to create showcases for the plugin, I (Tancrède Ottiger) received the following brief from her:

Format:
one A4 page (with margins of your choice)

Content:
Your A4 page should include one or more statements about your vision of graphic design and your practice, in the style of a manifesto. The idea is, of course, to experiment with the plugin. The text may be your own or come from a source you cite —one that, for example, reflects vision similar to yours.

In response to the brief and following various discussions with Giliane, I chose to draw inspiration from the famous saying: “Make your own tools”. In my view, this notion, as applied to my specific practice, referred to the fact that I create the typefaces I need for my projects. Over the years, this approach led me to develop new typefaces, or at least new cuts, for almost every project. The resulting collection of typefaces is what now constitutes the font catalog of ToSupply (my independent type foundry). Since my initials, when combined (To), make up the infinitive form for English verbs (e.g. To eat, To run, To dance), all my fonts are named after a verb that corresponds to the central idea behind their design. It follows, then, that the content used to showcase the fonts is systematically sourced in dictionaries.

Back to Alternative Layout Systems: for my manifesto, I chose to create a conjugation table. Each row features the same font. Each tense showcases a different functionality of the plugin (Same Sizer, Wiggle Out, Fill the Space, Hyphen Out, Hyphenator, Last is First,
Ext. Word & Letter). The neon blue is used to highlight the exceptions in the conjugation table. When read from left to right, the font names form the following mantra, which aptly summarizes my vision of graphic design:

Process—Alter—Blend—Record

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WRITTEN BY

FontsInUse

An independent archive of typography.