A new Art Deco, and the hunt for Broadway Greek/Cyrillic

No worries about the diversion! I refer to it as hryvnia simply because Glyphs App lists it as such. Similarly, the ghosted "sample" character that the fills the space before you start designing has a gap between the bars, so I mimicked this trait in my design. After doing some research today, I was surprised to find this gap to be very rare in other typefaces. (looks like I shouldn't have assumed this was normal  )

The S can cause issues with holes in the sentences, and I've definitely considered redesigning it a few times. Since the typeface isn't meant for sentences I'm not as concerned about the angle; other triangular letters like AVMW have a similar issue, but that’s part of the strict geometric design I was aiming for. The last glyph in the image attached is an early vertical attempt at the symbol which I quickly abandoned. Perhaps it’s worth attempting an "upright" S design?

I’ve taken a second swing at the /S and /₴ using the suggested upright construction. Here’s the previous attempt beside the upright version. I quite like the /$ being angled even if the /S is not, similar to The New Yorker’s NY Irvin (image below). I also increased the spacing of the bars to be more consistent with the other currencies. Speaking of which, thanks for the /₺ /₮ recommendation @Tural Alisoy!

When reworking the /S I made some new options:

1. The original design, untouched
2. An upright version of the original
3. Upright, but tweaked with better weight and curves (my preference)
4. Upright, but using the same curves as the /U
5. An attempt to use parts of the /2
6. A goofy idea that gave me a chuckle


The upright form definitely offers better colour and reduces the chance of holes. While it feels like it fits in with the direction of the other glyphs, I wonder if the width is slightly too narrow?

Craig Eliason said:

How about 6 but rotated counterclockwise so the letter as a whole is more upright?

Looks a lot better than I expected! I rotated it like you suggested, added some extra weight to the spine, and cut the top terminal shorter. Here are the results:

Thanks for all the feedback so far! I’ve decided to move forward with the "upright" /S as the standard glyph and include a stylistic set for the "italic" version. This way the designer can choose if the alternative character works better for their needs (and because I still have a soft spot for it despite the flaws).

The /₴ and /$ are still in a weird spot though. In the image below are three options:

(1) the upright version, which is follows the /$ but not the /S
(2) directly based on the /S design
(3) directly based on the /S design but the "divider line" runs horizontally. I don’t like this one.
(4) the current /$ for reference

Since these are currency symbols, and meant to be different from the text characters, I’m leaning towards keeping them different (option 1). I don’t know if this will be confusing though, since the /₴ and /$ don’t follow the construction of the /S.