The typographical and musical contributions of Evan Lelliott and his brother Ross explore the magic of being human via science, art, and dynamics that evade rational analysis. Beyond established excellence within its direct functions, their work purposefully experiments with connecting or blurring lines between typography, music, and painting. Our piece on their superb II Vorkurs takes note of how that particular font, inspired by the life and work of Josef Albers, explores connections between typography, Albers’s paintings, and the clean minimalism of the Lelliott Brothers’ musical project Increments. The Lelliott’s music, II Vorkurs, and Alber’s life come together here in this miniature film.

It makes sense that the Lelliotts would continue their explorations into the psychosphere with II Increments Sans, a font that again explores connections between print, sound, and emotion. This font is informed by classic grotesk proportions and “principles within musical theory,” resulting in, “… a rhythmic and composed sans-serif. Set within a structured grid, the intonation and harmony between its functional forms and emotive characteristics allow for use at both text and display sizes.”

The manner in which II Increments harmonizes typography with music in order to “play” emotions echoes synesthesia, a perceptual phenomenon where stimulating one sensory pathway results in secondary stimulation of another. For example, letters or sounds evoking distinct colors. Artists that have experienced this or incorporated its elements into their work include Nabokov, Kandinsky, and Olivier Messiaen. Composer Alexander Scriabin’s piece Prometheus included detailed notes on which portions should evoke what colors, orders acted upon in contemporary performances when lighting technology caught up with Scriabin’s vision.

But synesthesia lacks universal denominators; for example, not all synesthetes agree that the letter A evokes the color blue. Rather, synesthetic exploration of the conscious through art is unpredictable, romantic, emotional, and subjective. It alludes to stormy temperaments, poetic flight, and prehistoric interpretations of weather. But despite its inconsistent nature, synesthesia is validated to a certain extent through continued scientific exploration and the arts. The perennial pairing of Pink Floyd’s The Wall with laser light shows alone seem to indicate a degree of validity for synesthetic concepts.

Relative to synesthesia, the Lelliotts are more Carl Sagan than Immanuel Velikovsky, more Bach than Beethoven, more engineer than poet. On the music-art continuum between math and emotion, the Lelliotts strongly utilize the former to evoke the latter, whether via music or typography. In the case of II Increments, the font’s emotional and practical evocations are solidly grounded in the predictable and measurable aspects of music: tone, resonance, attack, sustain, harmony, beats per minute, time signatures, formulaic progressions. The Lelliotts’s suggestion that II Increments adjusting its pitch from Light to Black is analogous to moving from alto sax to a booming bass makes sense: it’s measurable, and the desired effect can be respectively dialled in.

In its heavy display emanations, II Increments attacks hard, sticking with the viewer with resonance and never-ending sustain. Nobody will be forgetting your message anytime soon. And that’s not because of visual pyrotechnics or outlandish design that might swamp your words and aims, but the opposite: this is a composed sans serif, set within a structured grid. It’s organized, with messages and emotions sent via planning and meticulous execution. And the immaculate legibility and the grotesk proportions of II Increments make it equally excellent for text. II Increments is a powerful composition.

II Increments—another masterpiece from this intriguing foundry. In closing, let’s revisit Increments performing their pieces Whiplash and Fool’s Gold live to avoid any suggestion that the mathematical and scientific are irreconcilable with Dionysian indulgence, passions, and nocturnal reveries; with the unpredictable, the chaotic, the mysterious. Or with fabulous light shows. These multi-talented brothers never fail to amaze. YouWorkForThem proudly presents II Increments from design studio, musical group, and visual artists Increments: Evan and Ross Lelliott.