The Sinclair-o-Matic generates logotype in the style of the old Sinclair computer mark, with sliders for stroke width, character width, spacing and several other variables.
Type in the box and the logo redraws itself live. The controls allow for a surprising amount of variation on the basic design: it becomes spindly, smooth or tubular without losing its essential character. Alas, a handful of glyphs are not implemented, including M, W and Z. The page is a simple HTML and JavaScript experiment by developer David Thomas, whose GitHub page has more Sinclair-themed retrogaming gems.
The logo being recreated belonged to Sinclair Research, the British firm whose cheap home computers introduced a generation to programming; Sir Clive Sinclair died in 2020. The ZX80, ZX81 and famously rubber-keyed ZX Spectrum shipped millions of units and competed with the more powerful but more expensive Commodore 64. I grew up with cassette-loaded games such as Jet Set Willy and Elite, though Sinclair's famous disinterest in quality control had me moved to a more durable Amstrad CPC after my dad tired of return trips to Dixons.
The logo itself (designed by Rick Dickinson) is an oddity. It looks similar to but is squarer than Eurostile, a typeface long favored by sci-fi and computer design, but it is not pixel art either. It's so futuristic that it time travels and lands in some pre-war constructivist place that might have inspired the Bauhaus. The strokes are uniform, the corners are clipped at consistent angles, but it's not so overbearing it looks like a Soviet comedy font. It suggests engineering and elegance and the 1980s.
Dickinson joined Sinclair in 1979, stayed until 1986, and won many awards for his work there; he returned to the brand late in life to draw the chassis and keyboard for the crowdfunded ZX Spectrum Next. Dickinson died of cancer in April 2018, age 62.
Sinclair-o-matic [dpt.github.io]
