Hi,
I'm developing a typeface for a jewelry designer's branding,
it should be minimalistic and clean.
I try to flavor the style with wide /O/N/o/e, narrow some others like /D/Z/X.
Things I'm not sure about are...
- The width of /K/k/A/V/v
- Terminals (some are horizontal, some vertical and some diagonal)
- Applying the contrast on the letters with diagonals (/w/v/y etc')
- Contrast in /g
/e bar is too thick, I know.
I try to keep the two sides of a straight stroke parallel, and not apply optical corrections by breaking parallelism.
Proofing file attached
(lc are not kerned yet)
Would appreciate any critique.
Comments
The midstroke of the /G/ looks high.
The Tail of /Q/ has a weird angle. Id increase its angle by moving the tails connection leftward.
I'd drop the bar of the /F/ slightly but this is a stylistic decision. A lot of art deco typefaces keep the /E/ and /F/ bar at the same heights. I'm aware this isn't an art deco typeface, but mentioning it to demonstrate stylistic preferences within sans.
/B/ looks a little dark to my eye. It's probably because the main vertical stem has an identical width to the /H/. In bolder sans id strip a little weight from the stem. Due to this glyph being narrow (which is perfectly fine as a stylistic preference), it looks dark. Strip weight out of the curves and such until it balances nicely.
Things you're not sure about:
The midstroke of the /e/ needs lowering to open up the counter.
The /w/ looks high-waisted. Id solve this by pushing the bottom apexes inwards so the angles of the entry and exit stroke lean outwards more. The /w/ is hard as there's always a tipping point where the bottom apexs can make the glyph look unbalanced, or too wide. The /w/ is also a little dark so strip some weight from the overall shape.
The /K/'s s too wide. The lowercase is better but my eyes say its needs a slight narrowing.
/Y/ looks low waisted (i.e where the strokes meet. Id raise it 20 or so units.
Not brutal at all, great insights.
What do you mean by 'constant reviewal'? I constantly review the font while i'm working on it )
I kind of like the /Q tail
Similar to how an author is a writer, but actually spends more time rewriting.
I generally agree with Paul’s comments, but wanted to add this observation: the uppercase G is very striking and has a ‘stronger flavour’ than most of the rest of the alphabet. The flat segment and hard corner in the lower right make this letter stand out, and also contribute to the letter appearing quite wide compared to some other caps. That might be intentional, e.g. if this letter is prominent in the name of the client or their product, and this strong treatment is intended to create a distinctive word mark. I quite like this strong feature of the G, and wonder if you might create a more distinctive typeface—which could strengthen the branding—if you were to apply a coordinated feature elsewhere in the design, e.g. the lower right of U, or even, more radically, in B D or even S.
I'm not responsible for the branding in total, mostly the typeface part, that's because the client is my dear sister
Unfortunately her name has no /G, not even /N or /O, but they will get their presence in the Jewelry names and general graphics.
I've decided to get rid of the contrast in the diagonaled letters all together, I think it's better this way. Still have to balance the weights, but I feel like i'm getting there.
I will test out John's cornered /B/U/etc idea and share.
How do you find the /r ball terminal, migrated from the serific world?
It could be more fitting if ideas like that were propagated through other glyphs in the typeface (like what John was suggesting with the outlier /G). But if all other curved terminals (like in /f or /a for example) are more monoline and unseriffed, the ball on /r will look more like a mistake than a feature.
Don't like the /Cs balling, it makes the typeface too ornamental imo.
Checking out expanding 3 Hebrew letters /מ/ס/ט, it's working nice, but don't corresponds to the absence of expanded letters in the name in caps (MEYRAV SHAVIT)
Reduced the contrast at circle-straight joints (/b/p/etc).
I'll carry the ball on the /r a little bit more, until it drops, or something develops of it.
https://youtu.be/pInk1rV2VEg?si=73h-sZG9Y82RUoG8
Btw i'm using @PabloImpallari 's great testing page
For me it falls on the /w, /f and /g. You don't really want letters that stand out more than other letters.
Made some work with the /g, i'm on 6 now. Need some more tunning.
Also, n-h-u seem like the counters are the same widths as m, when they should be wider. But u can be a tad less than the others.
@Thomas Phinney the /m counters are a bit narrower, is it not enough?
I've started testing the concept of the wide /e/o now, getting deeper into the styling aspects in context of the practical needs from the typeface.
I'll make a version of proportional /e/d/b/etc' too.
I got fed of the balled /f. Made the proportional lc version and some family members and let them work with it for a while.
I see that there are weight issues in the balder weights...
But while working on this sans, I've also experimanted a bit with it and came up with the following style...
*still in draft level