The idea of parameterized typefaces is an old one; I guess this example is interesting in that it attempts to parameterize between a serif and sanserif typeface.
Knuth's paper "The concept of a meta-font" (from 1981) has a nice example in which he typesets Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd ..."), changing the parameters of his font a little with every character. It's sans-serif at one end, serif at the other. (Among other things.) Regrettably, this demonstration doesn't seem to be available online. You can find it, e.g., in Hofstadter's "Metamagical Themas".
I thought this was fantastic. In that vid it looked like it might have been some new way to create fonts. I think that would be an interesting thing to research or develop. Something where you can, through mechanical devices "feel out" a new font. Or maybe one where you can record a new font similar to how you record an audio track. Hook up a keyboard and the typeface creates itself based on the audio spectrum you create. You could have fonts that are almost alive.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 12.6 ms ] threadHere's an image of it: http://blog.samwarmuth.com/post/218259393/figure-12-1
[1]Metamagical Themas: http://books.google.com/books?id=o8jzWF7rD6oC&lpg=PP1...