Laurenz Brunner: Dictionary of the Illegible

Source Type, 2026, hardcover, 480 pages, 13 x 17.7 cm 

From Dürer to Doctor Who and everything in between, Dictionary of the Illegible offers a multidisciplinary perspective on illegibility as a cultural phenomenon.

We seem to have invented every way to deconstruct and decode words: from the Speak & Spell to Hooked on Phonics, from Google Translate to smartphone picture-to-text apps. Yet how does language continue to elude us? From Swiss designer Laurenz Brunner comes Dictionary of the Illegible, a one-of-a-kind research project dedicated to illegible typography.
Bound in white faux leather with blue foil-stamping on the front and back covers and punctuated by a ribbon bookmark, this image-rich tome archives more than 250 examples drawn from the beginning of visual culture to the hypersaturated media ecosystem of the 21st century. Works by Albrecht Dürer, Hilma af Klint, Roland Barthes, Bruno Munari, Max Ernst and Paul Klee sit alongside equally puzzling screen captures from Family Guy, Jeopardy!, Doctor Who, The Simpsons and Star Trek. Each entry presents distinctive typographic forms that push against conventional notions of "readability" while opening up new possibilities for visual interpretation.