FF ThreeSix, designed by MuirMcNeil, is an optical / geometric type system consisting of six typefaces in eight weights. The ThreeSix project explores issues of legibility and readability in the design of geometric typefaces for use in extended text as opposed to those intended solely for display purposes. ThreeSix also concerns the use of generative and rule-based design methods for form-giving in typographic media.

In ThreeSix a systematic progression of optical and structural interventions is used to generate a set of geometric typefaces which are highly distinctive at large sizes but which can also be read in bodies of extended text with comparative ease. A series of compensatory optical strategies are exploited to create the illusion of evenness in the fabric of reading matter. These structural modifications are plainly visible at large display sizes but, at text sizes, the reader experiences only the resulting overall effects on what he or she is reading rather than their specific formal causes

ThreeSix won an ISTD Premier Award from The International Society of Typographic Designers in 2011.

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Poster, silkscreen silver on mirror paper (unrealised) designed to accompany the Unit Editions research paper U:D/R 03 ThreeSix published in 2010. A digital reprint of U:D/R 03 is available as a free download from the MMcN shop.

ThreeSix works within strict geometric constraints. All of its typefaces are based on a grid of 36 unit squares subdivided into nine units and all are constructed from a set of modules using vertical or horizontal straight lines and circular arcs.

In the six typeface groups within the ThreeSix system, optical and structural interventions operate successively on five key typographic functions: contour – the shape of individual letterforms; stroke modulation – the optical balance between horizontal strokes and vertical strokes; junctions – the optical effects at the intersections of strokes; weight – progressive accumulation of density on the skeletons of the letterforms; spacing – the fit of the forms in sequences.

In ThreeSix a range of compensatory visual modifications, such as open cusps or small intervals at junctions within glyphs, are easily visible at large sizes. However, at smaller sizes, the eye can perceive only the general effects of these adjustments on bodies of text

Each typeface group has eight weights: 018 Ultra Light, 036 Extra Light, 054 Light, 072 Regular, 090 Medium, 108 Bold, 124 Heavy, 144 Black. Cap-height, x-height, ascent and descent measurements are identical across all ThreeSix typefaces. In each typeface group, the vertical strokes of all weights align on a central axis and weight is applied as an increase or decrease on the stroke axis in 18 unit steps. In this way, all letterform contours within each typeface group map onto each other precisely.