Archive for November 2014

OUGD601: Practical - Collaboration - Jan's Additional Changes

Excuse the 'selfie'.... But here is a photo of Jan and I, taken when I was at a typographic workshop last summer in Slovenia:


I got to know Jan quite well, he's a type designer from Czech Republic. He has been designing typefaces for the last 5 years, and has been going to the workshop for the last 4 years. After seeing some of his work, I really wanted him to help me out. Another advantage is that Czech is a language with LOTS of diacritic characters, so is something he is much more familiar with than me. 

                                                                                                                                                                      

Correspondance 
TypeClinic Facebook Group

Before figuring out who I was working with, I posted the following post on the 'TypeClinic' Facebook page, to make all members aware of my project. 



 Initially Talking to Jan

I spoke to Jan briefly about the project, and then send him the file (in the software - Glyphs format) to work on. I also sent the reference to work from, and told him to notify the changes made, so he can be credited. 

Joe Leadbeater
19/11/2014 16:0



















Email Response:


Jan Emailed me His Response:



                                                                                                                                                              

Changes Made

Jan forgot to take many screenshots, but just as importantly, he noted his progress: 



COP – Change log
  • version increased to 1.001, added myself as a designer to info meta
  • fixed sidebearings – H, B, D, I, E, C, L, T
  • creating serif components
  • “B” – adjusting bowls balance, slightly enlarged width
  • “D” – changing serifs to components, matching its bowl to “O” , adjusting top and bottom bar to refered 70 points
  • “I” – changing serifs to components
  • “E” – changing serifs to components, changing middle bar serifs and terminal serifs to match the standard serif and keeping consistency
  • “F” – changing serifs to components, changing middle bar serifs and terminal serifs to match the standard serif and keeping consistency, enlargement bottom right serif for adding more optical stability, enlarging top right terminal serif to add an optical balance
  • “L” – Adjusting serifs to the “F” letter (turned 180° CW), shortening of the bottom arm for better performance – to minimize the white space
  • Changing the vertical “stem” width at “O” to balance it with “H” vert. stem
  • Added kerning pairs L-T, L-U
  • Added overshoot alignment zones (AZ)
  • “O” & “C” aligned to AZ
  • Added kerning pairs T-J, F-J, F-A,  A-T, T-A, D-A, P-A, C-A, A-C, A-T, O-A, A-O, B-A, U-A, A-U,
  • Added kerning pair R-T
  • Generated new accented glyphs & local glyphs & diacritic marks
  • New letters and digraphs added – IJ, Thorn, A_E, O_E
  • Accent Acute.case, Breve.case, Caron.case, Circumflex.case, Grave.case created
  • “G” – adjusted to the “C” letter
  • New letter added – “N”
  • Added kerning pairs Thorn-A_E, P-A_E, F-A_E, U-J, period-T-period, comma-T-comma
  • Adjusted width of “space”
  • New letter added – “S"

Jan explained he didn't spent 'too long' on the file. but it seems he's added a huge amount, not just to the diacritics, but also the overall metrics (spacing for each character and kerning pairs). 

                                                                                                                                                 

Current Stages

Most of the common diacritics has been completed, as well as most of the Latin Characters. The diagonal characters (eg. W, X, Y, Z) need working on. 













Sunday, 30 November 2014 by Unknown
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OUGD601: Practical - My Input (1)

As previously mentioned, I decided to go with the below inscription to work on as a reference:



I began working on the typeface, as you can see below: 

I started with the O, which appeared to use classic proportions for capitals (using some 'square' characters, and others rectangular)

After creating the 'O' the width and height of my curved characters were defined. These were noted down within glyphs: 


As you can see, after creating the 'E', the weight of the vertical and horizontal stems for the straight characters were also defined. 





Limited to certain characters that were designed, only a few examples could be used....

From the above example, it's clear that the horizontal stems needed to be thickened. I also realised that although I liked some of the quirky characteristics of the inscription, some of them take away from functionality. 

                                                                                                                                                                   

Making Initial Changes


Below you can see the overall changes made to the first few characters:


As you can see, the proportions have been changed to something more modern. This is because I wanted to emphasise the idea of bringing something classic to a digital era. I still want to include some of these quirky characteristics, but I think these can be added as alternative characters. 

C Changes: Slightly heavier horizontal thickness. The serif was also changed with a 'wedge' added for stability.

E Changes: The central stem has been positioned more evenly spaced. Serif's have been adapted from a curved into a more 'slab serif' form. 

G Changes: Slightly thinner, more modern proportions. Serifs made into a more 'slab serif' form. 

O Changes: Proportions have been modernised, and a less contrasting character. 

                                                                                                                                                                   

Adding More Characters

With proportions and weights defined, it was easy to consider more characters. 


I decided serifs were important on top of the A, and should be slightly more exaggerated in comparison to the reference. I think the serifs on this typeface are it's more obvious characteristics. 

I increased the size of the inner serifs, to compensate for the white space that was created:


The B was based on the E, but with a more centred crossbar. It has also been made slightly thinner, to compensate for the space taken up by the bowls in comparison to the E. 



The D is quite simply the combination of the C and E. 


The F was easy to create, as it's very similar to an E. 


I was the easiest character to work on, with the vertical thickness already defined. 


K is always difficult to work on, working out where each bar connects. I originally created something quite centred, but then favoured the two bars meeting closer to the height of the E crossbar. 



L was created in reference to I's serifs, and E's bottom crossbar. The bottom serif was made slightly longer to compensate for the white space. 


Originally, the P's lower crossbar was similar in height to the F. 


This height was changed significantly lower, to free up some more space for the bowl. 



Comparing letters in use is essential when designing type, to consider how evenly weighted and consistent that characters look. This can be seen below:


Designing the Q in reference to the O, quite a simple procedure of adding a stem. I added quite a large stem, in reference to some classic typefaces like Trajan (roughly 1900 years old). I was considering adding another alternate Q character as a swash, with a similar form to Trajan's. 


Trajan: 


Example of use: 



The R was fun to create, taking the form of the P, but adding some of the Q characteristics. 


I was going to leave most of the diacritics to my collaborators, but I couldn't resist adding a Thorn, essentially the combination of an I and P:


Some quick punctuation:


Another example of usage:


                                                                                                                                                                    

Current Progress


Completed Characters: 
A, B, C, D (screenshot is slightly old), E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O P, Thorn, Q, R T U

Sunday, 23 November 2014 by Unknown
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