Contextual alternates in latin sans-serif

After three days of prototyping a simple, geometric font (primarily for contextual alternates), I realized that I had almost got Futura :neutral:  I came up with a humorous comment and realized that Frederic Goudy even commented on it a long time ago :smiley: a strange era for us...



Comments

  • Nick ShinnNick Shinn Posts: 2,098
    What is your opinion about removing the left hand side of the Lslash diacritic?
    (Not really related to your post, just a Polish display-type question.)
  • What is your opinion about removing the left hand side of the Lslash diacritic?
    something like this looks a bit unusual to me, but it would fit exceptionally well in this typeface (as contextual alternate of course)


  • Nick ShinnNick Shinn Posts: 2,098
    I suspect the typography of this old album cover was rub-down (Letraset/Mecanorma), with the accented characters not provided on the transfer sheets, but produced by “stealing” accents from, for instance é.
    I do think you could take some liberties with your accented characters, in keeping with the “crowded” principle of the typeface design.

  • For more visual examples of one-sided strokes on Ł, see this Flickr thread, including signs, commemorative plaques, shop fronts, handwritten price tags. I wondered whether it’s acceptable for native readers. Mariusz commented:
    Hey, I’m Polish, it’s totally fine, and not weird to us, it’s just more common for older signs (I'd say pre 1980) - I wouldn’t expect it on anything new.
  • I think, a certain liberty in the treatment of accents (and Lslashes&ogoneks) has a long tradition in Poland. My favorite Lslash on 50 złotych banknote:

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