technique
signed distance functions return the shortest distance from a point to a surface. negative inside, positive outside, zero on the boundary. that single number lets you do basically anything — fill, outline, glow, morph — in a fragment shader without any vertex math.
the wordmark blob is four overlapping circles smooth-unioned together:
float smoothMin(float a, float b, float k) {
float h = clamp(0.5 + 0.5 * (b - a) / k, 0.0, 1.0);
return mix(b, a, h) - k * h * (1.0 - h);
}
float d = sdCircle(warp - vec2(-0.85, 0.0), 0.32);
d = smoothMin(d, sdCircle(warp - vec2(-0.28, 0.0), 0.32), 0.15);
d = smoothMin(d, sdCircle(warp - vec2( 0.28, 0.0), 0.32), 0.15);
d = smoothMin(d, sdCircle(warp - vec2( 0.85, 0.0), 0.32), 0.15);the pointer warp adds a low-frequency displacement to the input coordinate before any SDF is evaluated, which is why moving the mouse bends the whole shape instead of just deforming the surface near the cursor.
pixel-perfect letterforms would need a baked texture (MSDF). this version is the "show the technique, not the typography" cut.