Small-grid doodle which creates new combinatorial forms.
I considered this design rather rough and unappealing until I gave it negative spacing. This caused the forms to merge together in unpredictable and interesting ways. The lesson here is that sometimes the metrics, not the aesthetics, are what "make" or "save" a design.
A pixel font which combines four experimental techniques at once:
1. Structurally disconnecting the stems from the open parts of letters.
2. Allowing glyphs to extend beyond the reaches of width and starting position.
3. Designing glyphs specifically to connect and form new shapes, rather than simply allowing shapes to emerge from existing characteristics.
4. Designing glyphs so that the overall font is free of a need for kerning.
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Alternates are now on UPPER CASE. I'll continue to update this as I get more ideas!
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Original size: 6.75pt (use multiples of this value for pixel perfection)
An experimental design using 1/8 weight lines alongside 1/16 ones. The 1/8 lines are the smallest that can be accurately nudged. Centering them is still a problem at times, and I need a few impossible composites to perfect the glyphs ABEFHKQRXYijkx34789, but overall I'm quite fond of how this doodle turned out.
I think I could use some intensive compositing to get rid of the central dividing line in glyphs like A and H. I'll give it a try when I can.
Some kind of great big ol' chain.
In retrospect, I think it looks like a jewelry chain from a dwarven civilization. Perhaps the hypothetical jeweler cut and ground the stones in an imitation of some dwarven font!
When glyphs are used in isolation, they somewhat resemble carved signets or seals. Increasing the letter spacing allows you to create a variation of the design. (This is something that must be done in-software since the font will render as monospaced by default.)
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12SEP2018: Added lowercase... the low resolution combined with the design method make it very difficult to render distinctive lowercase versions of every letter, but I'll keep working on it. There's a lot of similarity between pairs like S/5, Z/2, etc., so this font is most effectively used in forms of writing wherein context suffices to inform the reader as to the identity of each glyph (lists, prose, and technical writings). If you want to use this in a password system or something, I recommend using one case's glyphs only.
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Design Rules:
1. Negative spaces will be areas of 0.5 bricks' effective length or width.
2. Negative spaces may exceed the 0.5 measurement only by increments of 0.5 and in only one dimension at a time.
3. Glyphs will fill their framed canvasses to the greatest extent possible while adhering to the other rules.
I decided to make a design which incorporated the thinnest/lightest weight lines possible in FontStruct. This is the result; I'll add more if people like it.
These 1/32 lines cannot be accurately nudged, so a unique line has to be built for each vertical position where I want a line. These lines also cannot be centered on a place where two curves meet (such as the middle of B or R). This introduces some unintentional asymmetry to the design, but I like it, so I'll keep it.
There is also the problem that forming a diagonal line of the same line weight is nearly impossible. While angled 1/32 lines can be formed, their angles are all close to 0. No method exists for making a line which slants at 45 degrees while also being 1/32 weight. So, I had to make some thicker lines in certain areas. I don't think they detract from the design, but if you scrutinize this enough, you'll notice them.
Alternate take on Nirvanite, this time with bullseyes rather than solid circles as the large segments.
This one is a lot more organic than its predecessor, but also a lot more confusing. Looks like clusters of alien tadpole eggs to me!
This is a clone of Nirvanite