Carry on or stop?

I started work on this font - partially because I thought it would be a fun style, partially to do interesting things with scripting:



which was all well and good and then I discovered this:

Obviously there are some differences, but... well, it's the same concept. So do I chalk this one up to experience and work on something else, or is it interesting enough to do more on?

Incidentally, it does provide an interesting way of solving the font piracy problem - just embed client-specific barcodes in each font you sell:


Comments

  • Well, I doubt is will ever be a bestseller. But if it isn't about making money, do it if you enjoy it and are excited about it! And don't do it if you are not excited. If the discovery of Pentaprism has made you lose enthusiasm, take a break, at least temporarily.

    In terms of advancing your craft and learning, I suspect the ratio of complications/time to payoff will be poorer than average on a wacky design like this. But I could be mistaken.  :)
  • You should definitely check out Grow Typeface System by Dinamo http://www.typetoken.net/typeface/grow-typeface-system-dinamo/, I can't find their hotsite for it, which was really fun, but these pictures give you an idea of what the typeface is like. You can see Grow in use over here http://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/38253/grow
  • Maybe you should see where your design is most different from Pentaprism and develop it in that direction?  I think there's something very interesting and unusual happening in the vertices of your N.
  • FWIW, I think Dyana's recommendation is at least as good as mine.  As she says, there's more than one path to take.
  • Nick ShinnNick Shinn Posts: 2,131
    Who knows where the “technical” challenge will lead? 
    Ed Benguiat, a phenomenal draftsman, drew/cut/painted stuff like this for PLINC, if I’m not mistaken; now the tools are quite different, but the challenges remain, and working with today’s tools opens up new design avenues to explore, which differentiate the outcome from what’s been done before.


  • Chris LozosChris Lozos Posts: 1,458
    Discoveries, either by a person or a society, come in the process of problem solving, not by reproducing someone else existing solution. Find your own path to find something new to you. Dyana is right, "never look at Pentaprism again".
  • Keep with it. It's an interesting design, and I think you're doing well with it. You could make changes to further differentiate your design, but I don't think you need to.
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  • Florian HardwigFlorian Hardwig Posts: 262
    edited November 2015

    Indeed Pentaprism is a medley of the many phototype variations on Koch’s Prisma infused with Bauhaus-like round forms e.g. for AEMNY, incl. PLINC’s Prisma series and Headliners’ Prismania.

    Pentaprism comes in five styles. The basic one has 5 lines, like Prismania. The uppercase is angular (as in Futura Prisma & Prisma Graphic — but with a non-splayed ‘M’), the lowercase holds round caps (as in Bauhaus Prisma & Prisma Bauhaus). See also Michel, Aki Lines, Filmsense, Blackline.


  • Nick ShinnNick Shinn Posts: 2,131
    I was mistaken, James, you remembered Ed’s story better than I did.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited November 2015
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  • Thanks all for the inspiration. I did some more work on this because it continued to be both fun and a learning exercise. I didn't look at Pentaprism again. It doesn't work at anything less than really big sizes - I presume that's just a limitation of this design, and I shouldn't be trying to mess about too much with hinting.

    I'm going to let it cook for six months to see if I want to polish it up at all, (I'm very happy indeed for it just to be an interesting learning exercise) but to share the fun here it is.
  • 'When to stop' is probably the most important decision a designer or artist has to make.
  • Simon CozensSimon Cozens Posts: 723
    edited March 2016
    Thanks to all for the help and advice on this and other projects. I've decided to stop, and release Sunscreen as my first font!


    and I bet you that "R" is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

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