Number 3 Design

14/10/2026

IS POWER - 1991
A3 PROJEKT SERIES: Limited Edition of 50 prints

Techno without technology.
Long before I owned a computer, in 1991, I created the logo and logotype for the techno club Knowledge, drawn entirely by hand with pencils, rulers, templates, and markers. There were no shortcuts and no Ctrl+Z. If you messed up, you started again on a fresh sheet of paper. The K was inspired by the lightning bolt, the universal warning sign for high voltage, and it became the foundation for a full alphabet. The club's motto, "Knowledge is Power", gave the typeface its name: Is Power. All that electricity, off-grid.

A3+ is digitally printed on 265 gsm Pro Photo Gloss paper.
A4 is digitally printed on 230 gsm archival gloss paper.

Spanning 35 years, 9 typefaces combined with the 9-colour gamut of 3 Projekt.
By isolating a single letter from each, the focus is on the sculptural quality inherent in the making of a letterform.

Available at: number3projekt.com

IS POWER typeface created by Paul Nicholson  NUMBER 3 | Paul Nicholson

13/10/2026

SHADOW - 2019
A3 PROJEKT SERIES: Limited Edition of 50 prints

Retaining a dark edge.
Screen Shadow, electronic musicians from Ghent, Belgium, commissioned this typeface in 2019. Their sound plays with textures, sampling clouds and corridors, dark at its core but opening into softer territory. I wanted a typeface that keeps the dark edge. Shadow takes its name from theirs. It is built from straight lines and sharp angles, finished with chisel end caps. The music drifts. The letters hold the line.

A3+ is digitally printed on 265 gsm Pro Photo Gloss paper.
A4 is digitally printed on 230 gsm archival gloss paper.

Spanning 35 years, 9 typefaces combined with the 9-colour gamut of 3 Projekt.
By isolating a single letter from each, the focus is on the sculptural quality inherent in the making of a letterform.

Available at: number3projekt.com

SHADOW typeface created by Paul Nicholson  NUMBER 3 | Paul Nicholson

12/10/2026

12/10/2026

BAIONLENJA - 2021
A3 PROJEKT SERIES: Limited Edition of 50 prints
Spanning 35 years, 9 typefaces combined with the 9-colour gamut of 3 Projekt.
By isolating a single letter from each, the focus is on the sculptural quality inherent in the making of a letterform.

Sensual geometry.
I created a set of logos and logotypes for Baionlenja in 2021, the custom mechanical keyboard brand of Finnish designer Magnus Revonheimo. From that branding, I developed a full alphabet that shares the company's name. It had to suit his industrial "biopunk meets Y2K" identity, so I drew on dark sci-fi and the biomechanical artwork of H. R. Giger. Fluid forms and rounded end caps give the letters the look of living organisms. Industrial utility, as art.

A3+ is digitally printed on 265 gsm Pro Photo Gloss paper.
A4 is digitally printed on 230 gsm archival gloss paper.

Available at: number3projekt.com

BAIONLENJA typeface created by Paul Nicholson  NUMBER 3 | Paul Nicholson

10/10/2026

Limited Edition of 50 prints
PLAPHU - 2017

Spanning 35 years, 9 typefaces combined with the 9-colour gamut of 3 Projekt.
By isolating a single letter from each, the focus is on the sculptural quality inherent in the making of a letterform.

A3+ is digitally printed on 265 gsm Pro Photo Gloss paper.
A4 is digitally printed on 230 gsm archival gloss paper.

Available at: number3projekt.com

The phuture, as the 90s imagined it.
Planet Phuture's logo and logotype, designed in 2017, gave me my starting point: the label was founded by Marc Acardipane, a pioneer of hardcore techno and gabber. From the logotype, I developed a full alphabet, Pla Phu, a reduction of the label's name. Its forms are round-edged and industrial, each letter fragmented by cut-out sections. Dark, gritty cyberpunk, drawn from 90s rave culture and classic science fiction. Like panels pulled from the hull of an interstellar craft.

PLAPHU typeface created by Paul Nicholson  NUMBER 3 | Paul Nicholson

10/10/2026

Limited Edition of 50 prints
PLAPHU - 2017

Spanning 35 years, 9 typefaces combined with the 9-colour gamut of 3 Projekt.
By isolating a single letter from each, the focus is on the sculptural quality inherent in the making of a letterform.

A3+ is digitally printed on 265 gsm Pro Photo Gloss paper.
A4 is digitally printed on 230 gsm archival gloss paper.

Available at: number3projekt.com

The phuture, as the 90s imagined it.
Planet Phuture's logo and logotype, designed in 2017, gave me my starting point: the label was founded by Marc Acardipane, a pioneer of hardcore techno and gabber. From the logotype, I developed a full alphabet, Pla Phu, a reduction of the label's name. Its forms are round-edged and industrial, each letter fragmented by cut-out sections. Dark, gritty cyberpunk, drawn from 90s rave culture and classic science fiction. Like panels pulled from the hull of an interstellar craft.

PLAPHU typeface created by Paul Nicholson  NUMBER 3 | Paul Nicholson