First of I began looking at creating the letter out of lines, I was trying to portray the fine detail and accuracy that is used to create an instrument and equally the precision some instruments create such as a scalpel that cuts a fine line. The top right P works well because the outline is easily visible unlike the one below where I played around with lines creating the P without a guided outline.
After experimenting with lines I began to looking at using just one thin line to emphasis the same point. The top left L is my favourite because it is sharp and clear, it would work well as body copy text and at the same time stands out well as a single letter form. The serifs have been kept the same as those found in Garamond font but the lines dramatically reduced, this brings the attention to the serifs and also gives the illusion of the lines being neater and finer.
The large O is playing around with varying the width, I think having it at opposing angles works well as it brings something new to the letter. The axis has changed which highlights the instruments different shapes, and how some shapes can be found in others.
I took the idea with the O and began to look at how varying the thickness are curved parts of the text would look. Above shows the idea in one word. I decided to add prominent serifs to the ascenders and descenders to end the letter to add a prominent end to each letter. I have recreated this below but adding in the x height, base line and caps height. I did this so that the text would line up and the kerning would be better.
As you can see I changed it slightly removing the serifs so that the end of the letters would end promptly. I decided not to have a separate caps height, I want the ascenders to end at the same height as capitals to bring the idea of unity and how everything has to work together in harmony.
I then started to look at what Serifs would look like and whether on the top they would need to be full or just on one half, I personally prefer the d where they go outwards from the letter, I feel like it would nicely lead on to the next letter without distracting from it. Another thing I like about it is how there is an equal distance between the X height and both cap height and baseline, this makes the letter feel longer and elegant because instruments are very refined and dainty this font shows it off well.
I then began looking at varying the X height so that i could see how it affected the letter form, this gave me a better idea of how an instrument inspired font would look. I experimented with changing the width on the curves (like before) but at different x heights although I prefer the plain lettering shown in the top left corner because it is simpler and would work better when it came to body copy.
Above I began to play around with using paper and layering. I quite like the idea of using a stencil as it implies copying and mass producing which instruments do, how well this would work as an alphabet is a different question! The layering of black and brown card is meant to symbolise the layering of instruments in an orchestra where it isn't soley one instrument but every one has a part to play. The thin brown slab serif U is slightly wider that normal width and would work well to show free flowing and smooth instruments.
I then began playing around with etching and played with the idea of mono printing. I scratched out the letter 'I' into plastic and the layered it with black paint to see what effects would be produced. I found that although the idea was good the actual outcome isn't legible or overly amazing this is because the plastic is too thin so no deep groves could be cut. It would have worked better if I used a thicker material like lino and then worked with the same technique.
