Apparently, it is quite easy to forget what gets a fontstruction going. Something about ultra condensed bla bla bla. The rest is just a matter of having a creative activity to occupy the mind. And if in the process you can help out a friend, all the better.
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.
anything goes in this book-style pixel font. it is for secret project.
maximum of 11 pixels tall (plus 3 px descender below)
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[1.7d] Still working on CJK and Hangul. Still not even halfway there!!!
[beta 1.7c] More CJK, Aboriginal Canadian Syllabics, Bengali
[beta 1.7b] More CJK but still not nearly enough
[beta 1.7a] I found a stray pixel which stretched the font two pixels too high. It's gone now.
[beta 1.7] ??? stuff? korean jamo, like 0.3% more of the CJK, Greek Extended, and one of the East Asian scripts (the name I forgot :<)
[beta 1.6d] assorted CJK and symbols
[beta 1.6c] devanagari (hindi script), thai
[beta 1.6b] thai and other junks. some characters improved
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.
Version 0.5
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A font made for a LuneKnight, a Terraria mod by yours truly. It gets its name because parts of it remind me of halberd, partisan, and/or axe heads. I designed this to have the vaguely authoritation look of a Didone as well as a borderline-gaudy look that prevents this from being taken too seriously. These changes lent some much-needed character to the prototypical Didone from which this design evolved. The uppercase letters are more heavily ornamented, as if to suggest that they are letters from an illuminated manuscript.
The main texture is a diamond pattern inspired by vent holes in medieval armor. These were often made with a square punch, and help the font look more handmade. Actually, most of the quirks this font possesses are present to help present a handmade look.
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Notes
The wider letters are incised, which seems to lessen their perceived wideness by breaking up the shapes. For me this effect lent a more natural flow to the reading.
The ornamentation rules are complicated and factor in lettershapes, English letter frequency, and the existing design parameters. One thing I can concisely explain is that glyphs which normally look fairly plain are ornamented to such an extent that they make others look plain instead (CGJLT1 among others).
inspired by neue machina and lack
added fun alternates in the private use area
This is a clone of Thinlyn (#nfnw)It's called Choices because this basic idea lead to numerous minor iterations that completely changed the character of the...er...characters. All the unused possibilites are now sitting dormant in another font. Perhaps they will become a full font (or three)...someday.
This is a cloneI attempted a blackletter style without any knowledge or references. The result reminds me of a vampire's writing!
The name "Dethzmezenger / Death's Messenger" comes from one of many old joke bands which I created.
Original size: 17.25pt (use multiples of this value for pixel perfection)
A vaguely Courierlike OSD (Onscreen Display) font which tries its best to be casual. The name is inspired by the old computer joke: "Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?"
No filters or faux-beziers, just stock bricks and a bit of stacking/nudging!
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More about the design:
It started as a doodle and an attempt to make a smooth, low-resolution, low-poly font, and then it became a Courierlike. I have other fonts that tried to do polygonal round shapes before this (such as Cartoon Riot) but this design is my first real success in this area.
Initially, I made the angled glyphs before the round ones. I didn't want to change the angled ones, so glyphs like C, O, and Q became a bit wider than they are tall. I'm quite fond of this, because in most designs these glyphs tend to have a tall and narrow character. I think the mildly squat look of this font makes it cuter and gives it more personality.
A lot of glyphs were altered in specific ways to look more like metal type, especially anything with diacritics which touch the letters themselves. Other glyphs were altered specifically to be interpretable at small size. I also use angled contours and actual round bricks alongside each other within the same glyphs, another technique which is geared toward style and interpretability at small size.
This font came with many new challenges and an array of new techniques had to be designed. Loops were an insurmountable challenge because of the low resolution and heavy line weight, so I drew rounded areas to suggest them. You can see it on letters like Greek γ, ζ, and ξ.
A quirky Pseudostencil design with a central horizontal slot going through it. The "slot" is 1 brick tall for lowercase and 2 for uppercase, and becomes a vertical slot for numerals and certain symbols.
This is named for the cowboy and lasagna emojis. These were repeatedly added to then removed from several popular chat clients and websites. Changing emoji standardization or government conspiracy? YOU DECIDE.
I finally made a folded-/ribbon-style design. This one contains a number of experimental techniques. Most notably, the swept parts of glyphs are allowed to extend beyond the letterwidths and sometimes even the baselines. This enhances the sense of movement, creates some interesting linkages, and reduces the need for kerning.
All of these shapes can be constructed with paper or ribbon, although lots of clever folding tricks, doubling, and pinning down/securing with glue would be required.
Alternate tilde on "±".
Unleash the power of the... SLAPPERDAPPER! For the whole family!
a typeface inspired by the music of this artist, billboard lettering and brutalism
Iteration 4: Basic Latin kerning finished.
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DOODLE DOODLE DOODLE!
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Design Rules:
1. Letters with spurs will have the spur begin at the baseline. This provides the distinctive "high heeled" look.
2. Any letter whose traditional design has a straight vertical line on its left side will keep the line, no matter how the lines of the actual letter travel.
Version 1.5
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3x3 slab serif. This is based on Wallerton, Anachronistic Gunslinger, an IRC-based "TV show" which I used to write and produce. All the characters in the show were my AIs pretending they were cowboys.
Well, I managed to successfully produce a lowercase for this one!
Recommended: Use with kerning.
A gnarled, pointy design which fits into many historical periods and aesthetics. It makes me think of Wild West woodtype and gargoyles.