Italics angle compensations

Hello everyone,

I'm having a hard time findind anything online regarding the angle-variations that some — most? — of the italics present (example below : Garamond).

Rsultat de recherche dimages pour italics angle

So my question is: is there a rule or some research/guidance that could help understand how to calculate those angle variations ? If rule or calculation there is. 

I get that this is a way to compensate a kind of "spinning" effect — for instance the could appear like rotating clockwise if not somehow backslanted — but I'd like to know more. 

Any help is more than welcome ! 
Thanks in advance and have a great day / evening depending on where you're reading this from !

Raphaël

Comments

  • Cory MaylettCory Maylett Posts: 245
    edited August 2018
    These kinds of things are more about art, aesthetics and intuition than they are about finding rules and formulas to follow.
  • Thank you @Ori Ben-Dor and @Cory Maylett 
    I kind of feared that this was more a feeling question than a theory one, but your comments are helpful. 

    If it's of any help to other people interested in the topic, I found this picture (taken from an article about the typeface Sindelar) giving hints about how and why corrections can be applied to specific letters. I doubt this can be made a rule of thumb, but it's a start. 

    Sindelar_15_1920

    Until next time friends
    Raphaël 
  • As with most things in font design, adjust it until it looks right.  If you adjust until the theory/numbers are correct but it doesn't look right then it's wrong.  If it looks right but doesn't match the rules/theory it's right.

    Your eyes are the ultimate arbiter of what is correct.
  • Vasil StanevVasil Stanev Posts: 759
    edited August 2018
    It's all about optical illusions. I think the funny pages should be at the beginning of every course about design and art. "Which of these things doe not fit", "Find the 9 differences between the two pictures" and so on. Great, great training, IMO.

    The right terminal of the h leads the eye to the right and with this the stem appears to skew rightwards. This however is countered in the d with the belly, so it does not need a compensation there. And so on.

    Much can be learned about this when understanding a Greek temple. For example, why the columns lean inwards and taper off, and why they have a thing called an entasis at a certain point in their shaft 

    I also looked for hard rules at the beginning of my career, but with time the eye became the dictator. The best advice I can give it is to train your eye with practice and quantity.
  • Thanks a lot @Vasil Stanev @Paul Miller
    At least now I have the confirmation that there's no rule haha !

  • notdefnotdef Posts: 168
    edited August 2018
    > For example, why the columns lean inwards and taper off, and why they have a thing called an entasis at a certain point in their shaft. 

    It is my understanding that the tapering is done to give the appearance of a flat façade when viewed from a certain distance at eye height, i.e. counteracting perspective distortion. (I think Gombrich discusses this.)

    The entasis appears to be a different thing, and more relevant to the topic.
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