Design Practice: Making a Typeface

How will we know if our typeface has worked?

• Does the response work across all glyphs?
• The glyphs are legible 
• Its consistent and recognisable as related fonts
• the modifications are consistent
• what distinguishes them
• scale that works

e.g. Gill Sans font is different for each area but together work as a typeface.
How far can we push the boundries of a typeface. go beyond legibility and readability.

italics are no more than a 12 degree angle or it shouldn't be less than half the x height.
Italic is a slanted serif font! eg Roman fonts. Oblique is a slanted san serif eg Gothic fonts.

The questions we need to ask ourselves before modifying the font is:

1. what are you going to modify?
2. how are you going to modify it?
3. how bold can bold be?
4. how light can light be?
5. how italic can italic be?

The three things needed when considering making a typeface are consistency, distinction and modification.

OUGD404 - Design Practice: The Anatomy of Type

Typefaces lay in their original way of production this can be the start to how we understand type and when and how to use it. Typography can be viewed from different angles, it is not just the production process but also the language aspect. Typography is a visualisation of the language which has evolved over the years to create the typography we have. 

The letter A was originally formed from what would have been a sketch of a calf head to symbolise something, it would have then been stripped to basic lines and eventually resembled an A as we know it today. In contemporary typography we end up with a range of letter forms that communicate the same thing. Typography is now a formalised language and because it is formalist it means it is durable. This means it can be changed in a plethora of ways but still be readable as that letter or word. 

The key thing to any font design is that it has a spacial element- a series of lines create a frame work for the font which allows it to have its format. The distance between the base line and cap height is the same for all fonts, however the x height can be varied between fonts. 

1 point = 1/72 inches = 25.4/72mm = 0.3527mm        12points = 1 pica 

Font - "The physical means used to create a typeface, be computer mode, lithographic, film, metal or wood" The Font is the method of production it is individual to each variation of the type and each point size. For example Helvetica Bold 12pt is one font where as Helvetica Bold 14pt would be a new font but the same typeface. A font is not exclusive to letters it includes numbers and glyphs but it just has to be in a uniform size, weight and style etc... 

Catergories of Font:
Block - The big chunky black fonts
Gothic - Cleanist type of font, it is crisp and neat
Roman - most serif fonts
Script - anything created by brush strokes or pen etc...

Typeface - A collection of characters, letters, numbers and symbols that share the same defining features but the line weight varies. A type face is designed together and are intended to be used together to compliment and and structure to a piece of work.