Overbold: Ignoring Eric Gill's Advice

245

Comments

  • Jasper de WaardJasper de Waard Posts: 617
    edited March 2019
    Yes, but it could go higher still (edit: the top of t, I mean)
  • Yes, but it could go higher still (edit: the top of t, I mean)
    True. This is where my irrational fondness for extra-low /t/ comes in. :grimace:
  • Yes, but it could go higher still (edit: the top of t, I mean)
    True. This is where my irrational fondness for extra-low /t/ comes in. :grimace:
    Hahaha, yes, I've noticed that before! 
  • @Christian Thalmann the counters of the /B (lower counter), /P and /R have a different form than the /D, with the former three being more symmetrical.  Is there a reason for this?
  • Good point, Steve! I tried it both ways and liked the more symmetrical counters better.

  • All this time I felt reminded of a font I had seen long time ago, which (together with Berliner) had been the source of the original design of the logotype for the Swiss jam brand “Hero”.
    Of course, Hero’s brand design has changed over the years and they redesigned the logo so it bears little resemblance to the original font, and there seems to be no historical record of the original logo design to support my memory.
    That font was Lo Type (see specimen below, source: Berthold). Of course, it is not identical to Christian’s design, but particularly the lowercase /g and the extreme weight, almost “bulging” out of its shape, has a strong resemblance for me to Christian’s new design. Which is smoother, altogether more balanced in its weird way, and it has a strong character of its own. Still, it reminds me also of some poster designs around the time of ending Art Nouveau.

  • Ooh, nice catch! That /g/ is amazingly similar.
    BTW, I've always hated the Hero logo. Strangely enough, they're leaning into it, even using a font based on its horrible Frankenstein appearance:
  • I didn’t particularly like it either, but it did have personality, at least originally.
  • Rob BarbaRob Barba Posts: 86
    goes to look at said logo
    Yeah, that thing is hideous.  Like they wanted to use a ransom font for their logo but went and found the worst one off a free font site.
  • It’s the dozenth or so incarnation of the original. Which used at leats parts of that Lo Type font. But they did not really improve it by changing it over the years.
  • I think this typeface is going somewhere beautiful. Reminded me of the surrealist era of early 20th-century comics, googled Windsor McKay and sure enough... 
  • Linus RomerLinus Romer Posts: 185
    Concerning figures: I love the 8!
    For me, the 2 leans to much to the left and the 6 and the 9 are too wide in comparison to the others. I would make the top of the 4 much wider - similar to the 1. The 5 seems to have less overshoot at the bottom than others?
  • Good catch on the 2. I fear I'm going to have to introduce an inflection to the spine to avoid cramping the bottom serif when de-slanting it. 
    The 4 would no doubt look better if it were more similar to 1, but the seminal /A/ keeps its sharp point to the detriment of the letter's balance as well, and that's the whole point of the typeface. :grimace: Can't skip this rare opportunity!
    Width of 6 and 9: I see what you mean, but it doesn't bother me that much. I'm not sure how I would narrow them down. Maybe it would be preferable to widen the /zero/ again so as to keep them company.
    Yeah, the 5 looks weird. I'll look into it.
  • I think this typeface is going somewhere beautiful. Reminded me of the surrealist era of early 20th-century comics, googled Windsor McKay and sure enough...
    This was definitely in the back of my mind too, when I sensed a familiarity and I couldn’t pinpoint it. But I devoured Little Nemo as a child.
  • I found the top of /Germandbls ugly and found a better solution with a serif on the top right. I don't usually do that, but then I normally don't use the Leipzig form. It seems like a natural thing to do there.

  • Christian ThalmannChristian Thalmann Posts: 1,938
    edited April 2019
    Tweaked the figures.
    Oh, and I rather like the section sign:


  • Craig EliasonCraig Eliason Posts: 1,397
    Nice! I’d keep working on 6 and 9 which are so wide. Have you toyed with different modulation patterns on those?
  • AbrahamLeeAbrahamLee Posts: 262
    I know that this font doesn't follow many conventions, but does the /zero have to be reverse contrasted? Not really loving it that way.
  • Craig: 6 and 9 canonically have heavy curves on either side of the bowl, so I'm worried I'd get something freaky (alright, freakier than normal for this typeface) if I made one side light. I'm not sure how I could make them have «1.5 stems» like many of the other figures... any ideas? Actually, the width inconsistency doesn't bother me all that much anymore now that 5 and /zero/ are also wider.

    Abraham: Many serif typefaces do have no contrast or reverse contrast on /zero/ to distinguish it from /o/. I went with reverse contrast here since default contrast looks extremely much like an /o/ here. It's freaky, but IMHO it fits the flavor.
  • Craig EliasonCraig Eliason Posts: 1,397
    Craig: 6 and 9 canonically have heavy curves on either side of the bowl, so I'm worried I'd get something freaky (alright, freakier than normal for this typeface) if I made one side light. I'm not sure how I could make them have «1.5 stems» like many of the other figures... any ideas? Actually, the width inconsistency doesn't bother me all that much anymore now that 5 and /zero/ are also wider.

    Abraham: Many serif typefaces do have no contrast or reverse contrast on /zero/ to distinguish it from /o/. I went with reverse contrast here since default contrast looks extremely much like an /o/ here. It's freaky, but IMHO it fits the flavor.
    2 canonically has a thick base. Just sayin'.  :)

    I think maybe the long stroke could be more of a swoopy diagonal that carries most of the burden of being six-ish; then the bowl could be small and thin, like the bottom left of A or top right of B. It may well not work but I'd play with it. 
  • Christian ThalmannChristian Thalmann Posts: 1,938
    edited April 2019
    Well, I'll be damned, it does work. :grimace: 
  • A bit exagerated here IMO, but the concept seems to work, yes.
  • The loops were a bit too large and thin to fit in with the rest. I've made them even smaller now and thickened the stroke a bit to match the upper loop of /B/. Works better that way, IMHO.

  • Rase: The exaggeration in those letters is part of the seminal idea for this typeface, so I'm afraid it's not going anywhere. :wink:
    Yeah, I also like how /g/ came out. The lowercase in general makes the typeface click much better than when it was caps only.
  • Craig EliasonCraig Eliason Posts: 1,397
    I think those figures are wonderful! #BringBackTheLikeButton
  • Craig EliasonCraig Eliason Posts: 1,397
    If five's and zero's stretching were only to give the superseded six and nine some company, they can maybe relax now.
  • Linus RomerLinus Romer Posts: 185
    edited April 2019
    I like the figures now much more! The loops of 6 and 9 were too thin I think, but their counters had the right size in the version April, 16.
  • I had already relaxed the /zero/ a bit. Made it just a hair narrower now, along with /five/ and /two/.
    Linus: I don't think the previous counters looked right; they were significantly larger than comparable counters in /eight/ and /B/, for example. However, the new ones were unnecessarily flat in proportions. I made them a bit taller again.


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