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My First Typeface
Posted by Deadmongoose in
22 Oct 2010 — 2:10pm
22 Oct 2010 — 2:10pm
I have absolutely no prior knowledge of typography or type-design, but recently decided to design a typeface of my own.
I know it's not exactly the most complex of designs but I like to think it's relatively original.
I'm not looking for comments on spacing as this hasn't left illustrator yet, just wondered what the type gurus out there thought.
Any name suggestions would also be cool aswell,
Cheers, Elliott
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22 Oct 2010 — 2:15pm
That's some serious x-height. Overall, pretty impressive for a first effort. My only misgiving is about the Fs: to my eye, they're both rather bottom-heavy...
22 Oct 2010 — 2:37pm
haha, yeah the x-height has made it quite a tough one to design,
in terms of the Fs, is this any better any better?
http://i56.tinypic.com/qy9wuf.jpg
Elliott
22 Oct 2010 — 2:49pm
Nick is right, this is a great first font. But there’s a lot going in the design that only works because the strokes are so light—which I’m sure is intentional. I think you will learn a lot by designing regular and black weights just to see what has to change to make the design adapt to proportions of 1:7 and 1:3. Then make then all work together. And if you still want to keep designing type at that point, you’re perfect for the job.
22 Oct 2010 — 2:58pm
The bowls in the lower case b, d, and g are different, unique and quite nice... why did you not carry them over to the other l/c and caps?
I think it could add a very distinctive quality to the font.
22 Oct 2010 — 3:10pm
in terms of the Fs, is this any better any better?
Call me old-fashioned (or anything else you'd like); I think this flows better...
22 Oct 2010 — 3:17pm
@Dunwich - thanks, I actually started this design with a regular/bold wieght but then decided to convert it to paths after the completion of the lower case characters as I felt it improved work flow and the overall look of the font. I also had trouble with the intersects as I felt they were to heavy on most of the characters
@typeterror - I can't honestly say why I didn't carry them through, most probably because I rushed the uppercase slightly this morning (lowercase was my focus). I think I shall rectify this later as it would look better with consistent bowls
@nick - it definately sits better, I just had a dying need to try and keep the descender of the f to a minimum; amateur i guess
Elliott
22 Oct 2010 — 4:47pm
I like the typeterror... although I am soft and cuddly most of the time :-)
And yes I like the lighter weight better. Problems to work out in the bolder.
22 Oct 2010 — 5:17pm
Here is what I am talking about. I have translated your d, g, etc. to the e. It is less round and more in tune with the aforementioned characters. Your characters have a different sparkle.
22 Oct 2010 — 5:29pm
Hey I can't critique right now, but that's incredible for a first effort! I take it you are very familiar with the bezier tool!
23 Oct 2010 — 5:28am
@typerror - somewhat of a type error on my part there!
with regards the e, that looks excellent; I'll definately be translating that into the typeface later today. It's much more distinctive than the initial shape and i'll definately follow this through with the uppercase characters, thankyou
@brianskywalker - correct, the pen tool is about all I've used for this typeface so far. That and the new line width tool in Illustrator CS5, makes editing paths so much more versatile without having to flatten them
23 Oct 2010 — 11:17am
I don't like the mix up of 'real' circles and super-ellipses — either one goes all geometric or one goes Piet Hein.
23 Oct 2010 — 2:56pm
My point exactly Bert.
20 Nov 2010 — 3:05pm
Ok, I know this has been a stupidly long time coming but I've only just had chance to work on this again due to A-Level and University preparations at school.
No idea if you guys can remember this thread but I've reworked all the curves to fit my non-geometric characters.
I think I'm verging on completion of this, just wanted to know if there's any glaring errors I haven't picked up on.
Elliott
21 Nov 2010 — 9:48am
Looking good! Though I think the /a/ still looks a bit geometric and wide. Your arched letters /n/m/h/u/ might need to be changed to look more similar to your rounded ones. There is a hard edge on the right of some of them as well.
Your curly brace should be monoline. The numerals also have a very different art deco feel from the rest of the font, and are too geometric.