Prototypo

Kai Merker
Kai Merker Posts: 2
in Type Design Software
Hello everybody! My Name is Kai. This is my first post…I'll make it short :)

blessing or curse?

prototypo.io
www.vimeo.com/72371197
www.flickr.com/photos/bytefoundry

image
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Comments

  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 649
    Although my first reaction was "Cooper Black origin, slanted", I like it.
  • Kai Merker
    Kai Merker Posts: 2
    oh – I mean the Font-Generator-Tool ›prototypo‹ …not the Sample-n.
  • PabloImpallari
    PabloImpallari Posts: 806
    This has potential, if people can design their own base skeleton of the glyphs, instead of just moving the sliders using the predefined skeleton.
  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 649
    Sorry, I should have taken a moment to visit the links. After doing that, I agree the app has a lot of potential if done right. It reminds me to an extent of the old 90's app Incubator Pro but without the shortcomings.

    The one think I would vote NO on is online use only. I prefer to have an app on my machine.
  • Benedikt Bramböck
    Benedikt Bramböck Posts: 37
    I think that software like this can serve as an interesting playground to experiment and discover new shapes, forms and parameters rather easily, which – telling by the name of the app – also seems to be the main objective of the developers. Importing/drawing your own «skeletons» is probably one of the key elements to make it a more useful prototyping (no pun intended) tool.

    Things like Metaflop or Laika give a glimpse on the potential and limitations of such software pretty nicely, but after some minutes pushing around the sliders one gets bored or frustrated.
    I would like to see Bytefoundry taking it a step further.
  • Sandy Cerovich
    Sandy Cerovich Posts: 17
    I like much of the concept, but to actually use it, I'd want it to allow you to plug in your own font design and as George said, I'd prefer to have the app on my own Mac, rather than spending hours online tinkering with it there. I assume you're designing it as an online app so you don't have to deal with cross-platform issues or to simply close the door on one platform.

    Having said that, there will probably be quite a bit of interest among folks that "play" with fonts but don't have the wherewithal to purchase FL or who don't have the time or inclination to learn how to use a full-fledged font editor.
  • Benedikt Bramböck
    Benedikt Bramböck Posts: 37
    edited August 2013
    Since they are planning to do all the programming in Processing there would not be a problem of excluding one or the other platform. When looking at stuff like Typecast, Macaw and iWork there is a general tendency going towards browser based applications.

    @Frode Bo Helland: Would you be so kind and elaborate this a little? (no pun, no fun)
  • Lucas Leo Catalano
    Lucas Leo Catalano Posts: 43
    I could see myself using this if it had an ample character set, but I'd still feel skeptical of the results given that I'd be making more family wide design decisions in less time than I'm comfortable with, so much so that I'd probably end up redrawing and spacing every glyph anyways.

    I could also see myself using this to test out ideas, as Benedikt suggested, but I'm quite attached to drawing with pencil and paper at this stage of the process, just for the fun of sketching and the time away from a computer monitor.

    Most of all, I could see myself using this to teach students looking into type design for the first time, illustrating many introductory theories and ideas more actively than just a case study slide show.
  • WH Typefaces
    WH Typefaces Posts: 12
    edited October 2013
    Re: the comments about being able to design your own skeletons, I invite everyone to look at Metapolator.

    image
  • Dave Crossland
    Dave Crossland Posts: 1,431
    > I would make a tool to define relationships and modify them with sliders in a typeface that has already been designed.

    That's what metapolator allows :)

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