Thickness preference for crossbars of high contrast typeface

Adam Ladd

I'm curious others preference or default when it comes to how thick you like to make the crossbar of /t /f (etc.) in a high contrast typeface (particularly in the bolder weights). My observations and personal experience have been varied, with it seemingly boiling down to them being either notably thicker than the /o contrast (for example), or optically just about as thin as the /o.

Perhaps this is a case by case basis and normal considerations still apply regarding the overall design intent, weight/color, size of text setting, etc.

I've just found that sometimes I wrestle with how dense they look when I make them thicker, but too thin and they tend to feel a bit frail or disappear (although they might feel more fitting to the contrast of the face overall). Sometimes just thinning out the left side helps.

Alex Visi

Thick crossbar is the artifact of the broad nib pen held at an angle, typical for ‘old-style’ or ‘humanist’ styles with a diagonal contrast. Not only it’s thick, but often also slanted, and can form a triangle on top left of t.

Thin crossbar comes from the pointed pen, typical for ‘modern’ or ‘new-style’ serif faces with an upright contrast. In this case, triangular top left on t would be unconventional, and it’s either straight or smoothly fades to a pointy ascender.

By the way, the crossbar also makes it to 4.

It is of course more pronounced in serif fonts, but you can find sans examples too:

Adam Ladd

Thanks for expanding on this and the origins/classification influences. A good example is the top left in the pic. Though it leverages more of the broad nib approach, I wrestle with how thick it is still optically, particularly the /t (I consider some other details help 'thin' it out... the triangular top and tapered exit stroke on bottom).

So I guess that's where some of the personal preference might come in, and made me curious to hear others views on it.