Book Launch & Conversation | Dictionary of the Illegible by Laurenz Brunner

Dictionary of the Illegible explores the limits of language—its beginnings and its ends—from humanity’s earliest marks to the dissolution of modern alphabets before our eyes. Mapping more than 400 examples of illegibility drawn from Indigenous cultures to imagined future civilizations, the book spans contemporary art, science fiction, politics, architecture, and technology. Dictionary of the Illegible proposes illegibility as a strategy for navigating a world increasingly governed by visibility, efficiency, and total surveillance.

Dictionary of the Illegible by Laurenz Brunner | Source Type, 2026 | 5 x 7 in. | 480 pgs | 71 duotone | 278 b&w. | $40.00

Laurenz Brunner (CH) runs an independent design practice specializing in editorial and communication design, visual identities, and type design. His work explores equilibriums between high and pop culture, concept and improvisation, art history and science fiction. Recent and ongoing projects include Schauspielhaus Zürich, Studio Barnhus, documenta 14, Spotify, Hamburger Bahnhof, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, The Most Beautiful Swiss Books, and Hauser & Wirth publishers. In 2022 Brunner launched Source Type, a platform for typographic research and visual literacy. Through Source Type, he has published Rapid (2022), Karl (2022), Reform (2023), and UN-11 (2024). Additionally he is a member of the Swiss type foundry Lineto where he published Akkurat (2004), Circular (2014) and Bradford (2018). Brunner has been a guest critic at Yale School of Arts, US; Werkplaats Typografie, NL and ECAL, CH. He has twice received the Swiss Federal Design Award (2006, 2012), as well as several distinctions from The Most Beautiful Swiss Books, The Best Dutch Book Designs and The Best Books from all over the World.

Ben Schwartz (US) is a graphic designer, researcher, and writer from Ohio. His most recent publication isUNLICENSED: Bootlegging as a Creative Practice. Currently he works as the managing editor for Source Type.

Source Type (CH/NY) is an editorial platform and type foundry with offices in Switzerland and New York, focusing on type, language, and visual culture. Recently, they published Image RIP by Geoff Han and UNLICENSED: Bootlegging as a Creative Practice by Ben Schwartz. Their full range of work is available at sourcetype.com.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Artbook @ MoMA PS1 Bookstore