Modern Slab Serif Font

Lorenzo Martinez

Hi Everyone.

I'm a freelance graphic designer that mostly specializes in logo designs. and during late 2018 I discovered my burning love for type and lettering. I'm doing self-study through youtube videos, asking for a solid critique of people that are well educated with type.

I'm doing lettering for only a year or so now. At the end of 2019, I decided to venture on font making since some people encourage me to build my own fonts when they see my lettering.

Heres my very first font. a modern looking slab serif. I mostly envision this font to be used in college or school shirt designs. Maybe it could also be used in some tech-related industries.

Heres my self-analysis on this font.

• I'm still not satisfied with how the cuts are placed, do you think you could suggest on how I can properly place the cuts? Especially on the W, M, N, Y, and X.
  
• Some characters look a bit heavier especially "0(zero)" where in fact, I have modeled all the letters with the same weight.
  

Im really looking for a detailed or in-depth critique to further improve this font.  Hope you guys could help me

Thank you!

Vasil Stanev

Hi man
It's a very solid stab at a first font, it definitely has potential. The wedges that you've put through all the letters work fine with some and not so good with others. Do not fear rotating and modifying them.

Some letters look heavier because you used the same stem width, while in actuality you should play with it to make them appear equally heavy. E.g., the left arm of the U appears lighter because you put a wedge in it. The other arm should compensate. Some of the letters, notably the A, V, W, X, Y have wedges that are either too small or break the overall dynamic of the letter. For example, nowhere on the X do you have an element that suggests the wedge should go where it does. Conversely, the bottom of the W is flat, so the wedge sits somewhat better there. P needs a right leg. And so on.

I would simplify the task thus: Do a version without wedges, balance it out, and you will most probably be able to work up this version from it. Currently it has so many things happening at once that it would be harder to get exactly right, IMPO.

Paul Miller

The 'Z' looks a little strange to my eyes, it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the font.

Rafael Saraiva

hi Lorenzo, keep up the good work and enthusiasm -- I leave my comments below, hope it helps. have a great week!

Lorenzo Martinez

Vasil Stanev said:

Hi man
It's a very solid stab at a first font, it definitely has potential. The wedges that you've put through all the letters work fine with some and not so good with others. Do not fear rotating and modifying them.

Some letters look heavier because you used the same stem width, while in actuality you should play with it to make them appear equally heavy. E.g., the left arm of the U appears lighter because you put a wedge in it. The other arm should compensate. Some of the letters, notably the A, V, W, X, Y have wedges that are either too small or break the overall dynamic of the letter. For example, nowhere on the X do you have an element that suggests the wedge should go where it does. Conversely, the bottom of the W is flat, so the wedge sits somewhat better there. P needs a right leg. And so on.

I would simplify the task thus: Do a version without wedges, balance it out, and you will most probably be able to work up this version from it. Currently it has so many things happening at once that it would be harder to get exactly right, IMPO.

Thank you for this analysis. I really appreciate it!

I never knew I had to adjust line weights to accommodate the visual balance. I always thought I should always follow the same width throughout the letters.

Can I ask a question? Do you know the actual name of the wedges that I put in? I research ink traps and it feels different. I want to have a reference point on how the wedges should be placed.

Lorenzo Martinez

Rafael Saraiva said:

hi Lorenzo, keep up the good work and enthusiasm -- I leave my comments below, hope it helps. have a great week!

This is really great! This is what I actually need. Thank you!

I actually look at ink traps just as you said, but I feel like Its different. Can you suggest me an existing font or typeface that has similar features with this(with cuts)?
I want to study how the wedges should be properly placed.

Also based on your analysis, Maybe I could get inspirations on black letters as well for the cuts? Do you think It would work well?

Thanks again for this very detailed critic!

Vasil Stanev

Do you know the actual name of the wedges that I put in?

I don't think there is a name. It's negative space, similar to the eyes and bowls of the letters. Research stencil and semi-stencil fonts - see how it was done there. I repeat myslef - you are juggling too many balls at once right now. Do a non-stencil version, work up from there. And a lowercase will change "the game" completely, so do that also before you go into stencil.

Lorenzo Martinez

Vasil Stanev said:

Do you know the actual name of the wedges that I put in?

I don't think there is a name. It's negative space, similar to the eyes and bowls of the letters. Research stencil and semi-stencil fonts - see how it was done there. I repeat myslef - you are juggling too many balls at once right now. Do a non-stencil version, work up from there. And a lowercase will change "the game" completely, so do that also before you go into stencil.

Yeah, I plan to do the cleanup version first just like you said. when it comes to lowercase, do you have like any suggestion on identifying the X-height for the lowercase?

But I still would want to look and study similar font styles for me to reversed engineer how could the wedge properly works without over-complicating the font.

thanks for all the information that you have provided. I really appreciate it

Vasil Stanev

The x-hight clasically relates to the cap hight as 5 to 7. This ratio varies.

Marc Oxborrow

I suspect you'll decide not every character needs a notch. As it stands, I think the notches work best in the numbers 2, 3 and 7, where they're part of the construction of the serif.

Thomas Phinney

I agree. And in general, some sort of consistency in the notching would make a stronger design. Right now it feels haphazard and random. I should be able to take some arbitrary additional character and be reasonably sure where the notches would go—but I have no idea.

Lorenzo Martinez

Marc Oxborrow said:

I suspect you'll decide not every character needs a notch. As it stands, I think the notches work best in the numbers 2, 3 and 7, where they're part of the construction of the serif.

Thanks! This insight sure would help a lot!

When it comes to rounded letters like O and S or maybe like the M and N. should I avoid putting the notches?

Nick Curtis

This font reminds me of an old favorite, Inverserif…

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/softmaker/inverserif/

Vasil Stanev

Nick Curtis said:

This font reminds me of an old favorite, Inverserif…

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/softmaker/inverserif/

Oh, that's a delight! Thank you for sharing.