Dawson family

Hey guys, perhaps I'm overzealous about this and perhaps I do not do well with giving up, but I have made the base of my family in which I want to keep working at until it is a complete and versatile family.

You may have saw my post from before, and since, I have made huge changes and feel I have a much more constant array of typefaces that work together as a family. 

here is some quick background info:

(1) Dawson Advertising: a semi-serif display type for advertising with horizontal end strokes, and high x-height with low descenders/ascenders. (I know that /I /J should not have horizontal strokes for a display type, but I couldn’t help but to keep them as I feel they make the caps more interesting)
(2) Dawson Sans Alt: A semi-serif alternative to Dawson Sans, again finding the balance between squared and rounded counters, inspired by Fontfabrics Intro family that feature a similar (upright italic — kind of) characteristic. 
(3) Dawson: A slab (or presumably a wedged) serif typeface inspired by Tisa and modern slab serif typefaces.
(4) Dawson Sans: (I know another grotesk-ish sans) A safe sans-serif that is somewhat squared and somewhat round (the key is the balance between round and squared)


Any advice and/or recommendation will be greatly appreciated ! Please note that my kerning pairs still need work, and I think I’m having some issues with some of the side bearings … 

Thanks, 

Simon.



Comments

  • Just some feedback on seeking feedback: Always show type in context. I reckon you'll get more and better feedback if you help the reviewer see how the type is meant to work, not just give them a bunch of letterforms. Having to wade through to the last page of each PDF to see how the type actually looks just gives your reviewers an unnecessary hurdle to get over.

    Personally I think there's still a lot of walking-before-running going on here. I know: making letterforms is fun, but making a font is boring and time-consuming. But if you want to differentiate yourself from the myriad new fonts out there, it's better to do one thing well rather than four things acceptably. (Not that I am in any place to judge.)

    Now to save the people who actually know what they're talking about a bit of time:

    Dawson Advertising: 
    Dawson Sans Alt:
    Dawson:

    Dawson Sans:

  • Craig EliasonCraig Eliason Posts: 1,397
    Slow down and work on spacing (not kerning) before getting too much further. The fitting here is uneven and generally too tight. That'll need fixing before you can really get down to evaluating how these faces are working.
  • Sorry that this may sound a bit discouraging, but this will hardly ever become a suite of quality typefaces picked by designers who know about good type. There are too many  basic mistakes in your glyphs … Also, I can’t see any actual design idea behind your drafts, except that of copying other designs.
    Before you herald a big-bang project with brass and pomp, do learning first. Right now you seem to be just on the wrong trail.
  • Of these, the slab serif feels the most usable to me; maybe focus on that as a starting point for your learning curve.

    The /b in the semi-serif fonts really doesn't work.
  • > Sometimes the best way to get progress on the Internet is to say something silly

    Exactly. There's no better teacher than being wrong in public.
  • Niche.Niche. Posts: 86
    Thanks guys, I'm taking notes and making lots of improvements, I want more tho ! I'm really learning a lot just by you guys pointing out the obvious and I need it because I don't have anyone else to give me a "proper" understanding of the way things should look and what the rules are. As for the comment about it looking like I copied others, all my glyphs I created front scratch, and they are based on drawing, but they have diverted from those drawing a lot, I am experimenting and trying to build a solid foundation to continue the family but I agree, too many things going on. Keep the constructive criticisms coming ! Eventually it will be shaped into something I like 
  • Ray LarabieRay Larabie Posts: 1,376
    I think the spacing looks tight and it lacks rhythm. Go to MyFonts and change the preview string to nnnnnnn. You can see how some fonts have pleasant nnnnnnnn rhythm and how some look too tight. What works for heavy fonts and light fonts is different. Really observe. Once you've got that worked out, check the rhythm of nnnnonnoonoooo etc. You may need to shift both glyphs afterward to give the o equal sidebearings. The spacing on n and o will tell you what the spacing of the rest of your typeface needs to be. Just make sure you don't make changes to the n and o afterward.
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