Touching serifs or good spacing?

Igor Petrovic
Igor Petrovic Posts: 307
in Technique and Theory
So in the Black master spacing is tighter and serifs of diagonal letters V, W, Y (K, R, X) are merged.

That can be solved by the kerning, but that leaves even more space than needed. Do you keep letters touching or remedy this at the expense of odd spacing?

Ligatures can be effective but there would be a significant amount of them, which is currently not an option for me. I have two kinds of serifs that make the contact unnatural.
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Comments

  • Craig Eliason
    Craig Eliason Posts: 1,440
    Another option would be contextual alternate forms for the trailing glyph--much less work than ligatures. That's what I'd do here, because that little bit is really irksome.
  • Igor Petrovic
    Igor Petrovic Posts: 307
    @Craig Eliason Great, thanks! Just to check, it's ok to keep the letters connected?

    I am asking because in every typeface I have quickly tested they are separated. Which raised the question is my overall spacing good. Numbers say that Thin weight might be too tight. On the other side, such a wide typeface+generous space takes too much line space.







  • Christian Thalmann
    Christian Thalmann Posts: 1,988
    edited April 2022
    I like your typeface btw! :grimace:
    The Hairline spacing is fine.
  • Chris Lozos
    Chris Lozos Posts: 1,458
    I don't like rules ;-)
  • K Pease
    K Pease Posts: 182
    Alternatively, might it be well to flatten that leading serif always?
  • Igor Petrovic
    Igor Petrovic Posts: 307
    edited April 2022
    Christian Thalmann said:
    I like your typeface btw! :grimace:
    The Hairline spacing is fine.
    Thanks and thanks! :) I would probably keep it like this for now, and have a bit wider spacing for thin lowercase. That way caps-to-lowercase combination will look good, and if a user feels ALL CAPS is too tight small tracking increase could help.

    K Pease said:
    Alternatively, might it be well to flatten that leading serif always?

    Thanks, maybe...I am kind of attached to it and it's seen in A, N, M, X, V, W, and Y. Maybe it's easier to add contextual alternates for 4 than to edit 7 letters. But I will consider your suggestion since it would work even for combinations I possibly overlook.


  • K Pease
    K Pease Posts: 182
    A/M/N and V/W/X/Y could be considered two subcategories. I would venture that this serif treatment on the apex is more valuable to the first group than the second. The three letters in the first group should be able to carry it as a theme, and a smooth slide from horizontal can be the second group's thing. Then calt would need no more than N.
  • Igor Petrovic
    Igor Petrovic Posts: 307
    You raised the important theory topic—how much is enough to carry a theme. The thing is that "the curly apex" doesn't appear in lowercase at all, and that is my main concern, is it enough to keep it in only three capital letters.

    Thanks for your insights, they will help me to make a decision :)
  • Alex Visi
    Alex Visi Posts: 185
    edited April 2022
    To add an opinion: there’s nothing wrong with overlapping as a technique to minimize spacing (sometimes there’s actually no better alternative at all), but it still should be done nicely. On your first screenshot, the sticking out parts look more like a noise or mistake. Also, keep in mind that VV too easily turns into W.

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