I'm looking for examples of what I'm inelegantly calling "anti-ink-traps" — design features that would function the way an ink trap would, but for type that's meant to be reversed out of a dark background (or displayed using light rather than ink, perhaps).
In other words, where an ink trap cuts into a potentially problematic join, an anti-ink-trap would have a little extra there, in the form of a curve or bevel.
Does that make sense? Any examples you can think of?
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I love the term "thorns" for what's happening on the corners of this Unica example... Interestingly, though, it also uses classic ink traps in the joins!
Yes. I didn't see the word "anti" in your post, sorry, senior moment.
The minting sharpens up body type, and provides visual interest at display size.
The third style is Beaufort, a glyphic effect which doesn’t require optical scaling, as the sharp serifs are close to asymptotic.
For some reason, rounding obtuse angled inside corners seemed more appropriate than negative thorns, perhaps because they don’t “decay” during process, and it expands the joint in a manner that balances the outside minting, which looks good when the font is closely inspected, rather than the typeset image.
Of course there are letters with more rounded interior corners. For example, letters by lazy wood-type creators who convince themselves that the artifacts of a router are an aesthetic decision rather than something that requires additional handwork to fix! But those aren't optical correctives like ink traps are.
I guess I was just thinking that if it's specifically meant to be reversed out in white on dark ink (rather than a fabricated or backlit sign, etc), then you might prefer to have an intentionally blunt interior corner than a sharp one that spreads out into a blob.
This might not actually be a thing!
Screen shoot from the book https://issuu.com/birkhauser.ch/docs/adrian-frutiger-typefaces/24
I was* the smart-ass kid who would have said, "Ah. Balls." and got plenty of detentions for it but it's not everyone's cup of tea.
* still am