Ridiculous Sans

Alex Visi

I’m relatively new to type design, and this is my first try of making something experimental (and silly) like this. Although this is a rough sketch, I feel like I already need a good piece of advice.
The whole thing doesn’t feel balanced to me, probably because some letters have thin strokes and others don’t; some letters are just thinner than others (a, s, z). Any advices, please?

André Simard

First of all I like what I see. I like the thin strokes on some letters /a,b,d,n,m,p,h,g,r). However do you think you could do something similar on the other lettres as /t,y,f,c,k,j,x/? The end of the /g/ seems too long to me. The horizontal bar of the /t/ could be shorter. Keep going.

Ori Ben-Dor

I like it, I think it has potential!

If I were to change one thing, I'd change /z. It interrupts the flowing rhythm of the rest. It's too boxy and rigid, with too many right or close to right angles.

The way you've trimmed the outer cusps of /v and /w so close to the tip of the inner ones does reference other thin elements, so I get why you've done that, but I would reconsider it. It makes the strokes look almost detached from each other, and also dictates too wide /w, in my opinion.

I'm not sure about the inward facing curved elements in /t (bothers me more) and /y (less), they seem a little out of place.

The bent part of /j is probably too dark.

The top half of /f looks too crowded, try making the cross stroke thinner. Perhaps that of /t too could be thinner.

Try thinning a little the left stroke of /y as it approaches the right one. The joint looks too dark.

Adam Jagosz

I think this is hot and juicy, not ridiculous! The /a shows a lot of character, and it is further established by the other curvy characters (/b/c/d/q). On the other hand, the leg of the a introduces another tone, the blockiness, but softened by the tapering. As for the blocky /w and /z, I can see it both ways: either embrace the blockiness and try to harness it, own and embrace it (this might need extra effort), or try another, more casual way (but, cookie-cutter alert). For the /w I would love to see a round, double-U design to go alongside that /a. I encourage you to pursue any or both of these directions and see what happens. Unless you are afraid of not being able to unsee what you see

Keep up!

Off-topic: It'd be nice if you throwed in your last name at the end of your username (I've heard this is the policy here).

James Puckett

You’re mixing metaphors. The curvaceous letters with their deep traps and mid twentieth century ad lettering style feel organic and lively. But the straight letters like k, v,w, y, and z evoke brutalist architecture; an extreme sort of Univers. Also think that v, w, y, and x are too wide.

Christian Thalmann

Nice and fresh!

I agree that /z doesn't work as it is now. Maybe let the diagonal dictate what the letter should look like, and have diagonal ink traps to set it off from the horizontals...?

The /t's crossbar is too wide on the left side, but I would be tempted to widen the right side to match the typeface's generous stride. I'd drop the rounding in the joint.

The /w/v/y do need some rethinking. I like the idea of going organic and use round script shapes for them; it would certainly allow /y to have another of the nice ink traps. I don't mind the /k, currently, but maybe you could cut an inktrap between the two diagonals from the outside...? Or try a loopy script design there, too.

Alex Visi

Thanks so much for your answers, many good ideas, I’ll definitely try to follow them!