Here is my fourth attempt to make a narrow font that accentuates diagonals. It seems to be a good programming font at size 10. It makes it surprisingly easy to read upper case consonant names.
Design is as follows:
Monospaced of course, because code pretty much requires this. Code fonts are built for both reading and editing, and when some letters are very narrow like the i and l in most fonts, that makes them very hard to select with a mouse and therefore very hard to edit and makes these fonts very hard to use for programming. In addition block cut and paste is important for programming and monospaced is required to do this easily.
Small sizes need to be easily readable. Sometimes you need to be able to see a lot of code on one screen.
Two Dimensional - designed for two dimensional grid-like work such as spread sheets and programming. Lines to draw reader's attention vertically are preferred over lines to draw reader's attention horizontally (as in most fonts). That makes this font more difficult for reading text and less difficult for reading code.
Glyphs are wide in the center of each letter so that diagonals and crossbars are easy to see, and narrow toward the top and bottom so that the characters pull away from each other and are easy to tell apart.
Bodies of the lower case letters are made relatively tall so they are easy to read in code, yet maintaining a clear difference between the height of the lower case and upper case characters - very important.
From top to bottom: 2 blocks upper diacritics, 1/6 block space, 2 blocks stems and upper case, 5.5 blocks lower case body, 1/3 block space, 2 blocks lower diacritics.
Clear distinctions exist among the members of each of the following groups of glyphs: ({[ ])} Il1 aes Ss56$ Zz217? `' ., uUvV coCO0D pP ;: ~- to help tell exacty what each glyph is. This is critical in programming.
Numbers are really large. It doesn't hurt at all for numbers to stand out in programming. This is ok because numbers never have diacritics. The 7 has a bit of a scoop so it does not look like a 2 when underlined.
Vertical alignment - The pairs {} () and [] line up precisely vertically.
The dots are large and distinct so they show up easily in code.
Large numeric 'operators' +-/\%^~=* are easy to read in code.
At least one block touches the right edge in each glyph so that Visual Studio can figure out what's going on. This also means that many glyphs do not touch the left edge and some narrow puctuation glyphs have a tiny extra block off on the right edge.
Floating a little bit above the zero line helps in dealing with underlines.
Avoids horizontal strokes to reduce problems with pixelation at various sizes in various programming tools.
Sans Serif (mostly) so that you can cram glyphs together more tightly.
Also:
Diacritics have lots of space since the area above and below the capitals is more than 2 blocks, so they can be added later on.
Looks scripty - There is a bit of a scripty thing going on because of the wide bases for the lower case i and l, so this is enhanced a bit in the I, J, S, U, Z, f, t, u, z and s.
Narrow enough to be mistaken for an informal text font although since it is designed for two dimensional work, simple lines of text are not that easy to read.
A little too thin - A little bit too thin to be easy to read on a pixelated screen below size 10, although it does print very nicely, so I am labeling this Friendly Geek Light, and I am building a Regular and a Bold font also.
Recent Changes:
Made the 'h' lean to the right to distinguish from the 'b'. Straightened out the '+'. Made the 'F' drop below the rest of the upper case to make it look less like an 'f'. Heightened the 'v' to make it smoother.
Friendly Geek is the regular version of Friendly Geek Light. Its widths are all 6/6 block rather than 4/6 block. The outlines of the glyphs have generally been left the same, with the insides being filled with 2/6 extra width.
This is a clone of Friendly Geek LightThis is the 7/6 block version. I've been liking this weight for programming at size 8.
Friendly Geek:
Good for...
- Labels
- Upper case
- Code
- Table cells
- Outlines
- Display
- Printing
- Informality
Not Good for...
- Normal Text
- Sentences
- Formality
Sometimes Good, Sometimes not...
- For each display screen size, one or two weights work well
I have changed the 'h' and the '+' to work better for programming. Changed the 'F' to make it more clearly different from the 'f'. Before it was looking a little bit like lower case somehow.
This is a clone of Friendly GeekThe 8/6 block thick version
This is a clone of Friendly Geek SemiboldA rounded sans-serif with rounded counters. That's DOUBLE the roundedness FOR FREE!!!
This family is made to have a high impact. Did it work? :^)
The original Kitchen Sink - a design with rounded counters.
This design is intentionally fairly plain. Check out the Kitchen Sink family to see the others :^)
This is a clone of Kitchen Sink RoundedKitchen Sink, sans the rounded counters. This font really is plain-looking when all its embellishments are removed, but sometimes that is what people want.
This is a clone of Kitchen SinkI built this to have the least possible padding at the top of a button.
This is a clone of Friendly GeekAn experiment which attempts to harmonize soft curves and straight lines while eschewing angles. The result is this "inkflow" design. What is the opposite of an inktrap? I don't know, so I'm calling it inkflow.
This could also be viewed as a hybridization of neon-style lettering and normal sans serif... it is not quite made to be either one, but could act as a decent companion font to them. Most neon fonts need a larger size and are thus more suited to headers, while this design is well suited to body text.
This could also ALSO be considered a Hybrid because it works as both a pixel font and a high-res one.
A variant of Clockwork Macguffin in which most curves are changed to 90° angles. Whereas with most fonts a change like this would result in a more authoritarian or "professional" look, this one became quirkier. I like it!
This is a clone of Clockwork MacguffinA half-sized, filterless version of Comicool Unicase which also has square terminals.
This has lowercase, but is made for all-caps comic book style lettering, so consider the lowercase as something added for accessibility's sake...
A more bookish take on Comicool, made for more comfortable general reading. It's still useful for comics, as well!
Many letters were squared off in the corners, lowercase letters were given stems, and an assortment of glyphs were edited for more style.
This is the third iteration of Comicool... rather than develop them all toward one style, I tried to make each iteration the best it could be. The result is three distinct, but still compatible styles. This one is probably the best for body text!
This is a clone of ComicoolI wondered what a plain version of Candylander would look like, so I made this. :D
I think a fully half-arc version could look even more stylish than this! Hope to find time to create one soon. (EDIT: Done, see Migrator)
This is a clone of CandylanderAn improved version of Derpberd which remains true to the original style.
It's still very casual-looking and very well suited to comics and pixel art, but it's also more regular and readable than before.
This is a clone of DerpberdRather than serve an ornamental or decorative purpose, this one is made to be as clean as possible so that it works well for body text. It's highly legible at small size, so it could potentially even be a programmer's font!
"Goud" stands for "Garden of Unearthly Delights", the name of an album from the band Cathedral.
An ornate Goud with lots o' thorns! Now with MORE THORNS.
This is a clone of GoudVersion 1.1: Several glyphs (BKMRWXkmwx38&{}µÆæß³Œœ™) were edited for readability and þ was edited to distinguish it from Þ.
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A font made for a friend's board game!
This gives me a strong "film credits" feeling with its high impact and simple geometry.
Version 1.3: Added Polish.
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Another asymmetrical sans-serif made for use in rulebooks for the Freeform Limitless Adventure Kit (FLAK) pen-and-paper game system. This one is classed as a hybrid and works well at all point sizes!
It began as a Constant Height design, but now I don't classify it as such since most of the letters with diacritics are taller than those without. A few letters (eszett, thorn, eta, etc.) are allowed to descend slightly, as well.
This font has also found some use on signage at a friend's bistro!