Monday, November 12, 2007

Does the world really need another font?

Does the world really need another font?

Yes. Mine.

For some inexplicable reason, I'm hell bent on designing/making my own font. I find the whole thing intensely fascinating (at least for now).

How timely then was this link to these Type Workshop images illustrating some fundamentals of type design. Incredible. Thanks to I Love Typography for so much great information.

So anyway, I've sketched out a basic alphabet as a starting point. The more I look at it, the more I want to change and refine it. Right now it looks a little anemic. I'm interesting in creating something sans serif, stable and consistent. Honestly, I'm aiming at something that someone (even just me) might actually use. The more reading and research I do, the longer the road seems to get, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. It's quite rough and there are lots of things to fix and refine. But there will be plenty of time for apologies... here's my starting point:

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


And before the typeface nazis attack, yes, it is a font that I'm initially going to create. If I'm successful and enjoy it, it might serve as a starting place for a typeface of which this one will just be a member. ;)

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4 comments:

Unknown said...

I assume you'll use FontForge? I'm really curious to hear how that goes. I've always thought font creation would be cool to try, but when I realized just how big a project it is and how scary FontForge looks, I backed off on it (ie. chickened out).

RichardQuerin said...

Yep, Fontforge it's going to be. I actually listened to a podcast interview with the creator of it and while the podcast wasn't all that interesting, what he did say was that everyone tells him that it's ugly, but he doesn't care because it works and does what he need(ed) it to do. :) He said that people want him to convert it to GTK or something like that but he's interested in making it work better, not look better.

Yeah it's a pretty daunting task. As I learn more and more about it the task just seems to get more complex. I usually try to set some interim goals to keep me going. So it might be that I get a working font with only three characters at first, but hey, three is better than none! :)

Thanks for commenting.

Anonymous said...

You've made a good start. Please keep me updated. You're most welcome to mail me.
Also interested to know about your experience with fontforge. If you'd like to write something for iLT some time about your adventure, then let me know. I think it's quite inspiring for others who are new to type design to s¥hear about someone else who's designing their first face.

RichardQuerin said...

johno - thanks for the comment.

I'm clearly just baby-steppin' at the moment, but I'll keep it in mind. It'll be something to shoot for. You're exactly right - I love it when somebody documents their learning process.

Btw - awesome site you've got over there. I love it.