New typeface character extension

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Hi everyone!
Lately I've been trying to figure out how foundries or individual type designers decide which charset extension makes sense to develop during the design process for a first release.
Let me explain better: when you're working on a typeface for the retail market, there’s no guarantee of a financial return, so every hour you put in matters. If I go for a charset that's too limited, I risk narrowing down the potential audience for my typeface. But if I develop too much, I might just be wasting valuable time.
In your experience, what’s a good balance between these two? Do you usually set a base charset when launching a new typeface? Do you go by Unicode blocks or focus on language coverage?
Of course, it probably also depends on the typology of the design, a more experimental display font might not need much, while something more functional and versatile would probably require broader coverage.

I’d be happy to hear your thoughts

PS: I shared it in Type Business because I feel it’s mostly an economic matter. Though I might be wrong  :#

Comments

  • You are right in that a text face is likely to go better with a well-supplemented character set, whereas a playful display font may be sufficiently equipped with a more slim repertoire. It’s always a new game with every font. But also a display font may deserve the attention for, e.g., providing a full character set for (nearly) every Euro-Latin orthography.
    Above all, it depends on the field of usage scenarios a given font is intended to cater for.
  • Some very good advice here already, as to be expected. My personal take is; extend latin languages fully— there's no excuse for a macron combination not working in some specific name. It's so easy to make. 

    Thomas is very right that it's a good idea to take a pragmatic look at what unicode blocks consist of and then take a step back and think if needed or not. Personally I've found that primes (double and single) has often been requested by clients, so I try to always include them now. Just take a look at general visual language around you and see what it consists of.