Hi guys, I'm working on a sans font made to go with a font of mine called Larkspur.
It's really ugly and i don't know why. I cant get the shape of the bowls right, especially in bdpq.
I know that the weight is a touch dark for a text font, I'm planning on interpolating it with the light weight to make the regular style.
Let me know if you have any input, thanks


Comments
Most people get stuck because they're too afraid to admit that.
I agree with Ray that it needs more consistency, but don't go too far with that, because a text font needs formal contrast. This being a sans it needs even more of that.
I actually think the b/d/p/q are fine (except for the clotting in the corners of b/q). The worst offender is the "c". One level below are "a", "e", "s" and "x". The binocular "g"... The hardest letter in the Latin alphabet... Don't actually try to make it too happy, for one thing it has to feel slightly vertically cramped (see below) for the whole to click. I would consider an open bottom, maybe even the Kock form (which some people start off hating, but end up loving).
The caps are in better shape. The "B" needs stronger horizontals to not look saggy. BTW if you're descending the "Q", you might let the "J" descend too, which is helpful in two ways.
But before you tweak anything, fix the vertical proportions: the descenders and ascenders are the same size, which is against how the Latin alphabet uses the vertical space; the ascenders should be longer in a text face. Since your caps are already nicely shorter than the ascenders I might not want to make the ascenders longer (although your x-height is rather large for a text face, so maybe) so consider making the descenders shorter. Would the "g" have more problems? Well, it can't be a primadonna dictating things and making the font suffer.
Darkish text fonts are most welcome in my book! Well, when I write my book...
For everything else, study well established fonts and do extensive reading to understand what you are looking at. Use the search option of this TypeDrawers board to learn what books to read, there are several topics by newcomers about that.
Its Semi-Serif cut is nothing short of a gleaming warrior-priest.
Redrew a bunch of the letters from scratch this time with open counters. I tried to make it more consistent overall.
Is this a step in the right direction or is it too bland? I will change the /J i know its ugly
I really liked the original /c but i cant figure out how to get that idea into the rest of the alphabet.
I really appreciate everyone who responded. I'm working to see if I can keep a little bit of the flared terminals.
I also reworked some of the cap proportions and tightened the spacing.
Do either of these look good?
The "e" has a pretty interesting character.
The "z" is too wide.
The "f" and "y" are flaring at the terminals a bit.
Your ascenders are equal to the descenders, which is anti-text (because it's potentially wasteful of the vertical space). Considering that the "f" and the tittles are overshooting the flat ascenders too much (compared to your overshoot in general) I would simply raise the "b", "d", "h", "k" and "l" just a bit to match.
back at it