Many of the corrections Thomas had recommended I have corrected as they were said the same by Tomato. I suppose it's good that they agree (without knowing it), as it shows they were genuine problems over stylistic opinions. 

A few thoughts that might help you polish things a bit more:

- straight-to-round transition in the D seems a bit sudden (done from Tomato's crit)

- The 6 and 9 feel out of place. They could probably use a ball terminal like the 5 and 2. Also, the top of the 6 and bottom of the 9 are a bit heavy at the extrema. (done from Tomato's crit)

- given the other number designs (5, 6 and 9), the 8 might work better if the loops crossed at a more oblique angle (less like an X), and perhaps if the lower loop was just slightly bigger and the top loop just slightly smaller.  (done from Tomato's crit)

- ring accent is strangely wide (keep the same, I quite like it)

- the alternate A and B that have the fully-looped swash are not working so well. Especially the B. I know it's relatively monoline, but many of the swashes seem more monoline than the rest of the font. Look at the thick/thin contrast in the cap O, and apply that to your swashes, and see if it helps. TO DO. 

- the serifs are as heavy as they can possibly be without being silly. I'm wondering if it would look better if they were just 10 units thinner. (Assuming you're on a 1000-unit em square.) (keep the same, I quite like it)


Corrections

(See Critique from Tomato Kosir for most corrections)

Before:

After: 

As you can see, I have taken the width of the curve of the O, to create something more consisastant and less monolinuar. 

Thomas Phinney is the Vice President of FontLab (one of the most well known type design software available), and also used to design fonts for Adobe. He had answered questions for my dissertation, so I decided to email him for a critique on my characters. 

I feel extremely lucky that he could respond and help me out. 


                                                                                                                                                


Hi Thomas, 

Once again, thank you for filling in my questions, the response you gave has helped hugely with my essay. I have been working on the practical side of the project, and would be honoured to receive some feedback form you on it. 

I have attached a (very quickly put together) specimen of Clothworker, the typeface I have been working on with a few type designers internationally. 

Clothworker is a caps-only, display typeface. It originates from an old Victorian inscription, brought to life for digital use, and made available for most Latin users. The eccentricities of Victorian typography have also been shown through the addition of alternate ‘quirky’ characters. There are also some street sign characters added, demonstrating a typical, traditional English use. 

Let me know what you think, and if you require the font file itself I can send that across too. I am in the process of completing the X,Z and an ampersand. 

All the best!

Joe 

                                                                                                                                                

His response: 

Hi Joe!

Nice stuff! It's really come together well. This feels like a real, functioning typeface.

A few thoughts that might help you polish things a bit more:

- straight-to-round transition in the D seems a bit sudden

- The 6 and 9 feel out of place. They could probably use a ball terminal like the 5 and 2. Also, the top of the 6 and bottom of the 9 are a bit heavy at the extrema.

- given the other number designs (5, 6 and 9), the 8 might work better if the loops crossed at a more oblique angle (less like an X), and perhaps if the lower loop was just slightly bigger and the top loop just slightly smaller.

- ring accent is strangely wide

- the alternate A and B that have the fully-looped swash are not working so well. Especially the B. I know it's relatively monoline, but many of the swashes seem more monoline than the rest of the font. Look at the thick/thin contrast in the cap O, and apply that to your swashes, and see if it helps.

- the serifs are as heavy as they can possibly be without being silly. I'm wondering if it would look better if they were just 10 units thinner. (Assuming you're on a 1000-unit em square.)

Corrections To Make

To work more as a 'To Do List', I've decided to write out all the corrections that need be undertaken. 

- Smoothen D's inner bowl. 

- Lower F's crossbar. 

- Reduce steepness of G's inner curve, then replicate with C. 

- Take some weight off J.

- Reduce width of K.

- Make L slightly longer, adding thickness to serif?

- Take weight off M, possibly add ink traps. 

- Redraw Q's tail?

- Adapt weight of the S, and adjust the angle. 

- Reduce width on V.

- Reduce width on W, take some weight of central area. 

- Increase the width of 1's serifs. 

- Use 3's serif on 2. 

- Reduce weight at top of 3, and add stability on curve. 

- Reduce 5's counter, possibly add top serif. Also add stability. 

- Add stability on 6, as well as serif. Duplicate with 9. 

- Add stability in centre of 8, and reduce in other places. 

Smoothen D's inner bowl:

Lower F's crossbar:

Take some weight off J:

Reduce width of K:

Make L slightly longer, adding thickness to serif:

Adapt weight of the S, and adjust the angle:

Reduce width on V:

Reduce width on W, take some weight of central area:

Increase the width of 1's serifs:

Use 3's serif on 2:

Reduce weight at top of 3, and add stability on curve:

Reduce 5's counter, possibly add top serif. Also add stability:

I also experimented with adding an upper serif, but decided it was too distracting. 

Add stability on 6, as well as serif. Duplicate with 9:

Increase the width of 7:

Add stability in centre of 8, and reduce in other places

After looking at the rest of the characters, the 4 needed some weight added: 

• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Tomato (yes his real name is actually Tomato), is a Slovenian type designer, and was also my tutor whilst I studied in Slovenia. He has a really strong eye for type design, and gave me endless feedback on a typeface I was working on over the summer. I sent him a message displaying a small specimen of my typeface, which he gladly looked at. I also sent an OpenType file of the typeface's progress, which he used to show me which characters needed work. The evidence of this all is below. 
  
  
  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  Hi Tomato! I hope you are well. As you probably know, I am working on a typeface with a few people from TypeClinic. If I send you a PDF, would you mind having a look and giving me some feedback on it?
• 

  02/01/2015 14:53
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  Sure. Sounds interesting Joe. Is that a joined project? Who are you working with?
• 

  02/01/2015 14:57
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  Great! The project was to do with an essay I have been doing for my final year at university - The essay looks at the positives of computers on type design. One obvious positive is that files can be sent globally for different people to work on. So I planned to work on a typeface with people all around the world, sending the file around for different people to add to.
• 

  02/01/2015 14:59
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  The original reference was an old metal inscription, from near me. I like the idea of taking something local, and adding diacritics and other characters for the typeface to be available all around the world. Another positive of digital type design is that lots of extra characters can be included in one file. For this reason, the typeface will include lots of alternate characters, swashes, ornaments, etc.
• 

  02/01/2015 15:03
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  oh, and I have been working with Jan, Franzikska, Marsi, and Clara may be adding some characters. I am also hoping to get feedback from as many type designers and type foundries as possible!

  *Franziska
• 

  02/01/2015 15:04
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  I hope it works. One thing is to contribute an idea, another to design a compatible glyph.
• 

  02/01/2015 15:05
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  I'm not sure what you mean I would love for you to add a glyph if you had the time.
• 

  02/01/2015 15:09
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  Well, it wont be such a problem to add diacritics, if you mean that, but more difficult to design whole characters. For instance: you design letter "s", and Franzi "ß". It might be difficult for Franzi to go along your design. Everybody has a different set of eyes. But we can try.
• 

  02/01/2015 15:12
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  Okay, I shall very quickly make a pdf to send to you, with the characters in. You can decide if you would prefer to add characters or just tell me what you think needs to be changed. Thank you Tomato!
• 

  02/01/2015 15:13
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  Yes, it will be easier to talk over a pdf.
• 

  02/01/2015 15:25
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  okay, I will send you something later
• Friday
• 

  02/01/2015 21:28
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  Hi Tomato, here is a PDF for you to look at.. Obviously since it is late, it can wait until tomorrow
• 

  02/01/2015 21:28
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  download

  Clothworker Usage.pdf
• Saturday
• 

  03/01/2015 11:56
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  And here is the OTF file... I was experimenting with fractions and old style numbers, but I think I may remove the old style numbers. The fractions need a lot of work, I have just started them! Let me know what you think. Thanks!
• 

  03/01/2015 11:58
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  download

  Clothworker-Regular.otf
• 

  03/01/2015 12:12
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  Joe, the idea is interesting, but I think the font should be first properly fine-tuned. And there is still a lot of work to be done. Problematic are C, F, G, J, M, Q, 0, 1, 2, 5, 9 and especially S. When you'll have a solid base, you can send it to others. Do you have a deadline to rush it?
• 

  03/01/2015 12:13
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  But I can see progress from your TypeClinic font.
• 

  03/01/2015 12:16
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  Yeah the problem I have is that the deadline is the 11th of January. I can see it is not quite perfect, but my tutors are not type designers, so quantity is better than quality for the deadline. But after the deadline I will still give it lots of work

  The result so far has been the combination of everyone's work, I was planning on getting most of the characters in place to then tweak together

  If you have the time, could you print out a page with the C,F, G, J,M, etc and show some corrections and scan it back in? (Just like when at type clinic you would draw on my print outs where nodes could move!)
• 

  03/01/2015 12:22
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  Hmmm, we can try that, but the problem is, they don't need just little bit of fine-tuning, but a couple of days of redrawing, comparing etc (with a mentor behing your back), workshop style.
• 

  03/01/2015 12:22
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  Of course I will also credit your help in the project, on the final Behance and personsl website post
• 

  03/01/2015 12:23
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  I'm not worried about authorship, he, he..

  The problem is you should first draw the basic characters properly, then you'll get a solid basis for your thesis.
• 

  03/01/2015 12:24
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  Okay, we'll try that. It will probably be far from finished for my deadline. But the aim is to show the concept that a font can be worked on around the world. If the font looks good it's a benefit of the experiment!

  The S I have been especially struggling with
• 

  03/01/2015 13:02
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  
• 

  03/01/2015 13:04
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  Here are the quick correctors.

  Also you should redraw zero. It is too olive shaped - too unstable and incompatible with the font.
• 

  03/01/2015 13:15
  

  Tomato Košir
  

  
  

  (quick corrections), damn auto spelling…
• 

  03/01/2015 13:16
  

  Joe Leadbeater
  

  
  

  Okay great. Thanks a lot Tomato, I'll make the changes later when I'm home