Indeed, Nina-

Initially I was intrigued by that 'R'; why does it have a round corner on the upper left corner? Was it in fact 'HENAY'? But, after not too long, I decided that liked the design, and so I made my interpritation.

One little point about the description at MyFonts, though: It reads, "Steelworks is a headline font based on lettering on a plaque of an American forge" but it's actually in Canada. Winnipeg, Manitoba, to be more precise.

Thanks for the image, John. It was an inspiration And if Henry Avenue Forge wants to use the font, please let them know that I'm happy to send them a free copy. And I just updated the info on MyFonts.

Dan Teichman, the artisan and blacksmith who created the Henry Avenue Forge sign, says this development is “super!”

He’s excited and surprised, as am I. Dan would like to accept your offer of a free copy. I sent you an e-mail message, Tomi, so you can contact him by e-mail.

Pity you got the proportions all wrong from the original.

Hahaha, I've just read a few posts that belong to "farquart." His only posts are 100% cynical, with palpable undertones of jealousy. Probably some shitty designer who got fired from his first job and hasn't had one since.

On topic: nice work on your interpretation of the type. The guy you drew from loved it and wanted a copy, and there isn't much more of a compliment than that.

And how is that lost in the digital interpretation, which to me appears stiff and a bit flat?

I agree with James on this. It feels too stiff and formulaic to me. There are slight variations in the stroke widths, specifically on the horizontals, in the sign that aren't there in the digital interpretation. This then causes the letterforms to generally have much wider bowls and counters in the digitization as a result. I think a more careful observation of the idiosyncrasies of the sign would have yielded a more honest & human typeface, rather than one that appears to have been made with fontstruct.

I know you weren't necessarily trying to recreate the sign as a typeface, Tomi, and rather to simply use it as a springboard for your own exploration. But I think you could have explored a bit further, as James said, what it is "about the original sign that conveys the charm that convinced the designer to interpret it."

penn

But I'm happy that the original designer likes it.

My guess is you don't draw that much type.

Young Acres' enthusiasm for type should not be overshadowed by his novice. His point should be welcomed despite the crudity of his articulation.

It's strange that your interpretation removes the qualities that attracted you to this lettering, Tomi.
Why not retain the charming proportions (e.g. the squareness of E) and something of the legibilty-challenging idiosyncrasies?
Wouldn't the design challenge be to resolve that issue, rather than avoid it?
Steelworks is a straightforward techno font, nothing wrong with that, but quite apart from whether or not it is stiff and a bit flat, and how useful the face may be, you have missed an opportunity to do something more informed by the source material and more interesting.

My comments "stiff and a bit flat" have nothing to do with the difference between real objects and vector artwork.

Ah, I see... you were referring more to the proportions of some of the glyphs, as Nick also mentioned (I think).

Perhaps it is difficult to plan which idiosyncrasies to include when an application for the design is unspecified. If Steelworks is needed for layouts that include images of the Henry Avenue Forge sign or similar signs, then the typeface is successful without idiosyncrasies.

I should have said this before :). It's pretty much the point I was trying to reach. If I were to approach a project that needed the type to look like the original image, I would rather have the actual form of the type so that I could make the imperfections/idiosyncrasies myself, as opposed to having it pre-done inside of a font.

Why not retain the charming proportions (e.g. the squareness of E) and something of the legibilty-challenging idiosyncrasies?

This part, although, I do have to agree with. I prefer the original "E"/"F" forms over the current versions.

Acres knows not to whom he replies; road signs have not been replaced in Georgia.

Based on your recent comments, and [your] previous answer in the affirmative aside, again my guess is you don't draw that much type.

Again, your guess is incorrect. Either way, this release isn't about drawn type, it's about a font (in vector format) release. I'm not even sure how you concluded from my opinions about type semiotics/relationships to real-world items that I "don't draw that much type," but whatever floats your boat.

Acres knows not to whom he replies; road signs have not been replaced in Georgia.

I'm only here for school. My home is in SC which does implement the acclaimed Clearview. :)

I’m pretty sure that if Tomi had preserved the idiosyncrasies of the design someone would be giving him shit about not polishing his designs before he releases them.

Haha, probably quite true. The grass is always greener.

Any other interpretations are welcome.

http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/fontstructions/show/acciaieria

;-)