tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204325531039486372024-03-12T22:01:21.854-04:00LetterpunchA blog about type design and font freedomKelvin Mahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13857743686547600986noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-25987374734943843442014-11-26T14:40:00.002-05:002014-11-26T14:41:41.166-05:00Italics, part three: the f branch and outliers<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Italics</i></div>
<div class="lettertree italic">
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">n</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the n-branch</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">l j i</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">h m r</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">u</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 17%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">v w</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the a-branch</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">c</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">p b</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 17%; position: relative; width: 0;">d q</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 23%; position: relative; width: 0;">g</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">t</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o e</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">f s</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: 26%; position: relative; width: 0;">y</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the f-branch</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">outliers</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">x k</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a></div>
</div>
<i>If you haven’t, please read the introduction to italics: <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/introduction-to-italics-one.html" target="_blank">part one</a> and <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/introduction-to-italics-two.html" target="_blank">part two</a>. The tutorials on the preceding <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" target="_blank">‘n’ branch</a> and the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" target="_blank">‘a’ branch</a> also helps. </i><br />
<br />
Remaining on the italic tree are a handful of miscellaneous letters. Many of them share a type of curved horizontal stroke found on the letter ‘<i>f </i>’ (the upper and lower strokes, not the cross stroke). Others like ‘<i>t</i>’ and ‘<i>z</i>’ are outlying letters that we will also finish in this post. There also exists one poorly-defined hybrid letter—‘<i>y</i>’ that will be dealt with in this post.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The letter <i>f</i></h3>
<br />
The italic ‘<i>f </i>’ is the only English<i></i> letter that has both an ascender and a descender (other languages have letters that do this too—like þ, but those are obviously not English letters). Its stem is capped by two curved horizontal strokes (labeled 2 and 3 in the diagram) that are fairly common in the italic alphabet.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1oP48e9Og2c/VHYUAeIN45I/AAAAAAAACAM/AwBxTSi9h8M/s1600/italic%2Bf%2Bstrokes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1oP48e9Og2c/VHYUAeIN45I/AAAAAAAACAM/AwBxTSi9h8M/s1600/italic%2Bf%2Bstrokes.png" /></a></div>
These strokes are very similar to the terminal on the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" target="_blank">‘<i>c</i>’</a><i>.</i><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iiAbAL5AWnw/VHYVPitO6ZI/AAAAAAAACAU/W450Lc7Ql_g/s1600/italic%2Bcff.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The ‘f ’ terminal is closely related to the ‘c’ terminal." border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iiAbAL5AWnw/VHYVPitO6ZI/AAAAAAAACAU/W450Lc7Ql_g/s1600/italic%2Bcff.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ‘<i>f </i>’ terminal is closely related to the ‘<i>c</i>’ terminal.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
<a name='more'></a>The letter <i>s</i></h3>
<br />
The letters ‘s’ and ‘<i>f </i>’ are closely related. In the old days, the letter ‘s’ had two forms—a word-internal form ‘ſ’ and a word-terminal form ‘s’, the one we are all familiar with today. Speakers of Greek, who deal with something similar in their own letter ‘s’ (‘<span class="Unicode"><span class="Unicode">σ’</span>/‘</span><span class="Unicode">ς’),</span> will be familiar with how this works: The long ‘ſ’ is the standard form, and the round ‘s’ used when the letter occurs at end of a word. In this way, “Massachusetts” is rendered “Maſſachuſetts”. <br />
<br />
The ‘f’ and the ‘ſ’ are <i>not</i> the same letter, orthographically or phonetically, but they are incredibly similar—the two letters are shaped exactly the same except that in the ‘ſ’ the cross stroke does not overshoot into the right side of the letter like the cross stroke of the ‘f’ does.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Long-s-US-Bill-of-Rights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Long-s-US-Bill-of-Rights.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An italicized ‘<i>ſ </i>’ and ‘s’ found in the US Bill of Rights<br />
(courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The similarities persist in the italic form—the ‘<i>ſ </i>’ is identical to an ‘<i>f </i>’ missing its cross stroke. It follows that the ‘<i>s</i>’, being a shortened form of the ‘<i>ſ </i>’, would be related to the ‘<i>f </i>’ as well. In roman type, the ‘s’ and the ‘ſ’ remained very distinct, developing different serif conventions, but italic type, with its more unified approach to stroking, renders the two in a similar fashion. The ‘s’ becomes a stretched and squashed relative of the ‘<i>f </i>’.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UfTbPmw1KdI/VHYbR15-cdI/AAAAAAAACAg/s1IMqahyhK0/s1600/italic%2Bfss.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UfTbPmw1KdI/VHYbR15-cdI/AAAAAAAACAg/s1IMqahyhK0/s1600/italic%2Bfss.png" /></a></div>
<h3>
Blobbed letters ( <i>x</i> <i>k</i> )</h3>
<br />
The letter ‘<i>x</i>’ is composed of a heavy diagonal stroke crossed by a hairline upstroke. The diagonal is something like a backslanted ‘<i>i</i>’. The upstroke is capped by two short blob terminals meant to provide balance to the heavy diagonal. Calligraphically the blobs are written similarly to the terminals on the ‘<i>f </i>’ (but in a single motion, since the hairline is written from bottom to top), so they should resemble them somewhat. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yUg9VBR5vOY/VHYhUsbu3AI/AAAAAAAACAw/dQ-Md5RDwW8/s1600/italic%2Bsix.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yUg9VBR5vOY/VHYhUsbu3AI/AAAAAAAACAw/dQ-Md5RDwW8/s1600/italic%2Bsix.png" /></a></div>
<a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-x.html" target="_blank">Just like in the roman</a>, the two arms of the hairline should be broken and offset slightly to make them look aligned optically.<br />
<br />
The letter ‘<i>k</i>’ is related to the ‘<i>x</i>’ <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-k.html" target="_blank">just as it is in the roman</a>. The arm and leg of the ‘<i>k</i>’ is a stretched version of the right side of the ‘<i>x</i>’; the stem is a typical stem, except it lacks an outstroke serif (the ‘k’ just looks weird with the outstroke serif).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VF99V9tId3Y/VHYiuBOa9hI/AAAAAAAACA4/7_0osuTBE8A/s1600/italic%2Bxpkk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VF99V9tId3Y/VHYiuBOa9hI/AAAAAAAACA4/7_0osuTBE8A/s1600/italic%2Bxpkk.png" /></a></div>
<h3>
The letter <i>y</i></h3>
<br />
The italic ‘<i>y</i>’ is one of the most poorly defined letters in the italic alphabet, and so you have a great deal of creative freedom in designing this character. Some typefaces give the ‘<i>y</i>’ a unique form, others treat it like a ‘<i>v</i>’ with a tail, and still others render it as an ‘<i>x</i>’ with an elongated hairline and shortened diagonal. Some typefaces render the ‘y’ in its cursive form, a combination of the bowl of the ‘<i>u</i>’ and the tail of the ‘<i>g</i>’.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iIdwXJcXILY/VHYjQ-7Su9I/AAAAAAAACBA/tJ0oz7C2ueE/s1600/italic%2Bys.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iIdwXJcXILY/VHYjQ-7Su9I/AAAAAAAACBA/tJ0oz7C2ueE/s1600/italic%2Bys.png" /></a></div>
<br />
There is not much correlation between ‘<i>y</i>’ style and typeface era, though the curled fork form is generally used in very old style typefaces. The most popular form is the hard fork or “ ‘<i>v</i>’ with tail” form.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-DtEVUT-NQ/VHYkN-c-A5I/AAAAAAAACBI/XaX8Qtzh9sE/s1600/italic%2Bugy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Inflorescence’s cursive ‘y’" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-DtEVUT-NQ/VHYkN-c-A5I/AAAAAAAACBI/XaX8Qtzh9sE/s1600/italic%2Bugy.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inflorescence’s cursive ‘<i>y</i>’</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
The letter <i>t</i></h3>
<br />
The ‘<i>t</i>’ is practically machine-slantable. However the angle of its stem cut (its sloped top) might be informed by the angle of the serifless legs of letters like <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" target="_blank">‘n’</a>. The hook on its bottom is also optically similar to the finial on the ‘<i>c</i>’.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LldNHv45jnM/VHYobo4agSI/AAAAAAAACBU/-v_MlTH--Hw/s1600/italic%2Btct.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LldNHv45jnM/VHYobo4agSI/AAAAAAAACBU/-v_MlTH--Hw/s1600/italic%2Btct.png" /></a></div>
<h3>
The letter <i>z</i></h3>
<br />
The letter ‘<i>z</i>’ is a true italic outlier. It has absolutely no relation to any other italic letter; it must be drawn independently.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G8DBvWVJZug/VHYpYGAvXfI/AAAAAAAACBg/CYUQ1NEx2BU/s1600/italic%2Bz.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G8DBvWVJZug/VHYpYGAvXfI/AAAAAAAACBg/CYUQ1NEx2BU/s1600/italic%2Bz.png" /></a></div>
The waviness of its horizontal arms is somewhat correlated with how modern a typeface it is found in. Old style typefaces give the ‘<i>z</i>’ more curves than more modern typefaces (with many exceptions). It is important to note that the stress of the ‘<i>z</i>’ is completely reversed from that of <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-z.html" target="_blank">its roman form</a>. The heaviest parts of the ‘<i>z</i>’ are its arms; its hairline is found in its diagonal. The opposite is usually true in the roman ‘z’.<br />
<br />
That concludes the italic lowercase alphabet! In the next few posts, we’ll go over how to italicize the capitals and symbols, which is generally a fairly straightforward process with few radical changes in glyph form.<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-11538763303927371962014-11-15T17:06:00.002-05:002014-11-15T17:09:51.075-05:00Italics, part two: the a branch<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Italics</i></div>
<div class="lettertree italic">
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">n</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the n-branch</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">l j i</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">h m r</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">u</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 17%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="icompleted-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">v w</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the a-branch</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">c</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">p b</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 17%; position: relative; width: 0;">d q</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 23%; position: relative; width: 0;">g</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">t</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o e</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">f s</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: 26%; position: relative; width: 0;">y</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the f-branch</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">outliers</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">x k</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a></div>
</div>
<i>If you haven’t, please read the introduction to italics: <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/introduction-to-italics-one.html" target="_blank">part one</a> and <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/introduction-to-italics-two.html" target="_blank">part two</a>. The tutorial on the preceding <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" target="_blank">‘n’ branch</a> also helps. </i><br />
<br />
Like the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" target="_blank">‘<i>n</i>’ branch</a>, the ‘<i>a</i>’ branch is a family of italic letters which all derive from a certain root (‘<i>a</i>’). The ‘<i>a</i>’ branch sprouts off of the side of the ‘<i>n</i>’ branch, and the ‘<i>u</i>’ and the ‘<i>a</i>’ form the junction between the two. In this way, the ‘<i>a</i>’ branch can be thought of as the second stage of italic design, though the design process is quite similar to that of the previous branch.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The letter <i>a </i></h3>
<br />
Unlike the roman <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" target="_blank">‘a’</a>, the italic ‘<i>a</i>’ has only a single bowl and stem, much like a <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-d-p-and-q.html" target="_blank">‘d’</a> without its ascender.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AR9Txhyji-k/VF-cFThaD-I/AAAAAAAAB-k/JqQ0_rsDzzA/s1600/italic%2Ba%2Bstrokes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AR9Txhyji-k/VF-cFThaD-I/AAAAAAAAB-k/JqQ0_rsDzzA/s1600/italic%2Ba%2Bstrokes.png" /></a></div>
In terms of its architecture, ‘<i>a</i>’ is most directly descended from the italic ‘<i>u</i>’. The two letters share a bowl stroke; in the ‘<i>a</i>’, a second, horizontal stroke closes off the aperture, forming an eye-shaped counter. It is important to note that in italics, the stress is somewhat more diagonal, so the ‘<i>a</i>’s hairline is actually found near its upper-left corner.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fIT8zSfDEeE/VGeG_OE16VI/AAAAAAAAB-4/4XkebYGdF5c/s1600/italic%2Ba.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fIT8zSfDEeE/VGeG_OE16VI/AAAAAAAAB-4/4XkebYGdF5c/s1600/italic%2Ba.png" /></a></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>
Stem variations ( d q g )</h3>
<br />
From the ‘<i>a</i>’, the ‘<i>d</i>’ and ‘<i>q</i>’ can be made by extending their stems upward and downward, respectively. Owing to their increased size, the width of their bowls is sometimes increased slightly.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XV0h0FJtvWQ/VGeHsdFuzvI/AAAAAAAAB_A/kfyxxixZUMI/s1600/italic%2Bdqg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XV0h0FJtvWQ/VGeHsdFuzvI/AAAAAAAAB_A/kfyxxixZUMI/s1600/italic%2Bdqg.png" /></a></div>
The ‘<i>g</i>’ can made similarly to the ‘<i>q</i>’, by adding a curved arc of stem to its descender. However, there is also an alternate form of the italic ‘<i>g</i>’ that is in many ways an oblique version of the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-g.html" target="_blank">roman ‘g’</a>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1t1N3rNiBO8/VGeJWZWwy5I/AAAAAAAAB_M/Nztv03bGKCk/s1600/minion%2Bq.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1t1N3rNiBO8/VGeJWZWwy5I/AAAAAAAAB_M/Nztv03bGKCk/s1600/minion%2Bq.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Minion Pro ‘g’ and its italic version</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This form is uncommon, generally found in more old style italics.<br />
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<h3>
Mirror letters ( b p )</h3>
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For some designers, the mirrored bowl letters—‘<i>b</i>’ and ‘<i>p</i>’, should be treated independently from their reflected counterparts, ‘<i>q</i>’ and ‘<i>d</i>’. In this case they will be highly informed by the shoulder of the ‘<i>n</i>’, just as in the roman. However, in italics, you can also simply rotate the ‘<i>q</i>’ and ‘<i>d</i>’ to create these letters, with some minor corrections. At any rate, you may find the discrepancy between these two avenues of design to be quite small in the end result.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4LYcI9ir9tQ/VGeJmKm7E9I/AAAAAAAAB_U/vfCh2hq75OA/s1600/italic%2Babpn.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4LYcI9ir9tQ/VGeJmKm7E9I/AAAAAAAAB_U/vfCh2hq75OA/s1600/italic%2Babpn.png" /></a></div>
Although some typefaces place a bilateral serif on the descender of the ‘<i>p</i>’ (and sometimes the ‘<i>q</i>’ also), it is also common for the stem of the ‘<i>p</i>’ to have no serif, sharing a shape with the vertex of the ‘<i>n</i>’.<br />
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Just like the ‘<i>g</i>’, the ‘<i>p</i>’ also possesses an alternate form, also popular among very old style typefaces. Here, it is not treated as a true bowl letter, but rather as a vertical stem slashed by an arc (much like how ‘<i>p</i>’ is often handwritten). However this form is rather rare, and the normal “rotated ‘<i>d</i>’ form” is never wrong.<br />
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<h3>
Round letters ( c e o )</h3>
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Perhaps a major discrepancy between roman and italic design, is that in roman type, the letter <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" target="_blank">‘o’</a> is designed first, and from it comes the ‘c’, ‘e’, and other bowled letters like ‘b’. In italic design, it makes more sense to design the bowled letters first, and create the ‘<i>c</i>’ and ‘<i>e</i>’ from them. The ‘<i>o</i>’ is built last, from the letter ‘<i>c</i>’. This is because the italic ‘<i>o</i>’ is not really a circle, rather it is made up of other, more basic italic strokes that come together to simulate a circle. Thus, in roman type, the circle is the basis of all the rounded or bowled letters, while in italic type, it is the basic strokes that form the basis for all the other letters.<br />
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The ‘<i>c</i>’ and ‘<i>e</i>’ are some of the most difficult italic letters to design (aside from the ‘<i>n</i>’ of course). The basic form of the ‘<i>c</i>’ is taken from the bowl of the ‘<i>a</i>’, or course, but the ‘<i>c</i>’ is significantly rounder, and slightly more eccentric in its slant (the ‘c’ even had slant in the roman). Thought must also be given to the letter’s upper terminal.<br />
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Equally challenging is the ‘<i>e</i>’, a modified ‘<i>c</i>’ that loops back into itself. Special care must be taken to balance the stress and size of the letter’s eye, and the letter may go through dozens of revisions before you’re finally happy with it. It should be noted that the italic ‘<i>e</i>’ almost never has a corner in its eye.<br />
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The ‘<i>o</i>’, for its part, is simply two ‘<i>c</i>’s put together to enclose a roughly oval counter.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jsqz09uFw08/VGfLBgzeD4I/AAAAAAAAB_4/jlS39ovhuE8/s1600/italic%2Bcoo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jsqz09uFw08/VGfLBgzeD4I/AAAAAAAAB_4/jlS39ovhuE8/s1600/italic%2Bcoo.png" /></a></div>
That concludes the ‘<i>a</i>’ branch. In the next installment of this post, we’ll finish off the rest of the italic lowercase, including the smaller ‘<i>f</i>’ branch and some miscellaneous outlying letters.<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-28478645172577146392014-11-09T11:42:00.004-05:002014-11-09T11:43:05.563-05:00A new name and some tweaks to the romanEven though I’m working on italics, there were a few things I wanted to fix in the roman style (a type designer, or any artist for that matter, should never be afraid to go back and add some polish to previously completed parts of the font). Here, I made the letterforms a bit wider and rounded the bowls some.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vZfLJomzWyg/VF-YaM8lVUI/AAAAAAAAB-Q/TLP2Oeshj2Q/s1600/roman%2Btweaks.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vZfLJomzWyg/VF-YaM8lVUI/AAAAAAAAB-Q/TLP2Oeshj2Q/s1600/roman%2Btweaks.png" /></a></div>
The difference isn’t big, but I think it makes it slightly easier to read, especially at medium sizes (11–16 pt). (Text is from Wikipedia)<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2zixybH4EbU/VF-Y1zTQcwI/AAAAAAAAB-Y/erV9sJW7n_8/s1600/roman%2Btweaks%2Btexts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2zixybH4EbU/VF-Y1zTQcwI/AAAAAAAAB-Y/erV9sJW7n_8/s1600/roman%2Btweaks%2Btexts.png" /></a></div>
The one on the right is the new version of the font.<br />
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In other news, I’ve also decided to change the working name of the font. Instead of “Floribunda”, the typeface will now be known as “Inflorescence” instead. I think it sounds a bit nicer (no forward-schwas in the middle of the word!).<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-31348779988372361732014-11-06T19:05:00.002-05:002014-11-15T17:10:21.979-05:00Italics, part one: the n branch<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Italics</i></div>
<div class="lettertree italic">
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">n</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the n-branch</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">l j i</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">h m r</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">u</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 17%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="icurrent-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">v w</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the a-branch</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">c</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">p b</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 17%; position: relative; width: 0;">d q</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: 23%; position: relative; width: 0;">g</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">t</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o e</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">f s</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: 26%; position: relative; width: 0;">y</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the f-branch</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch.html" style="font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">outliers</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">x k</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a></div>
</div>
<i>If you haven’t, please read the introduction to italics: <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/introduction-to-italics-one.html" target="_blank">part one</a> and <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/introduction-to-italics-two.html" target="_blank">part two</a></i><br />
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The lowercase italic alphabet can actually be divided into three stages, represented by ‘<i>n</i>’, ‘<i>a</i>’, and ‘<i>f</i>’, plus a couple outliers. The ‘<i>n</i>’ branch, which this post will teach you how to design, is a vast swath of ten italic letters which all come quite naturally from each other. This is part of what makes italics so fun to design—the letters share so many characteristics that you can knock out large portions of the alphabet by nailing down just a few letterforms.<br />
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Typographical italics are descended from <a href="http://www.calligraphy-skills.com/italic-calligraphy.html" target="_blank">italic calligraphy</a>, which contains only a few fundamental pen motions. That means that there is incredible congruence among different italic letters. The ‘<i>h</i>’, ‘<i>m</i>’, ‘<i>n</i>’, and ‘<i>r</i>’ are all letters with the “shoulder” or “hump” stroke, and the linear letters—‘<i>i</i>’, ‘<i>j</i>’, and ‘<i>l</i>’—are all degenerate forms of them. The ‘<i>u</i>’ is merely a rotated ‘<i>n</i>’, and the ‘<i>v</i>’ and ‘<i>w</i>’, are, at least sometimes, copies of ‘<i>u</i>’ strokes lacking the vertical stems.<br />
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At the center of this italic family is the letter ‘<i>n</i>’, from which all the other letters can be derived. Accordingly, it makes sense to spend more time on this letter and make sure that you get it right, since the shapes you draw in this letter will be reused at least nine more times.<br />
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<h3>
Characteristics and parameters of the italic <i>n</i></h3>
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If you read <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/introduction-to-italics-one.html" target="_blank">my first post on italics</a>, you should already be familiar with the form of the calligraphic ‘<i>n</i>’. This form actually resembles quite greatly the ‘n’s many people render in their handwriting, especially if they have cursive tendencies.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-44jNY1_pOUU/VFv56_Uzx3I/AAAAAAAAB8o/6G9vv2TxH7c/s1600/italic%2Bn%2Bstrokes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-44jNY1_pOUU/VFv56_Uzx3I/AAAAAAAAB8o/6G9vv2TxH7c/s1600/italic%2Bn%2Bstrokes.png" /></a></div>
Many italic typefaces mix in traits of this form with those of the roman <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-n.html" target="_blank">‘n’</a>, which is written with two strokes. The most obvious example of this is in the heights of the joins. Because the calligraphic ‘n’ is made up of a single stroke (at least visually; calligraphers are known for breaking up simple strokes into three or more components, especially when lettering at large sizes), the stem and shoulder meet at a vertex at the lower left corner of the letter.<br />
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It naturally follows that in italic type, the join of the ‘n’ is often dragged down the stem, much closer to the baseline. How far down the join is found varies. With numerous exceptions, older style typefaces generally have lower italic joins, while more modern (especially computer-claredon) typefaces have higher italic joins. This should make sense—computer-claredon type is, frankly, more closely related to sans serif type than “true” serif type, and following the sans tradition for oblique rather than italic type, these modern serifs tend to be close to visually slanted roman typefaces. Indeed, in many modern computer serifs, the joins hardly moves at all between the roman and italic styles.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In- and outstroke serifs are also an important component of italic type. Some typefaces have curved serifs, others have sharp serifs, and some combine the two. The upper serif is more likely to be sharp than the lower serif. Unlike join height however, in/outstroke serif form doesn’t correlate with type era that much. Many old style typefaces have curved italic serifs, but at the same time, curved serifs are also very common in very modern typefaces such as Didot and Computer Modern.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ThSRf6mBOEY/VFv8uQaU-TI/AAAAAAAAB88/_kE0UDNCHVE/s1600/italic%2Bserifs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ThSRf6mBOEY/VFv8uQaU-TI/AAAAAAAAB88/_kE0UDNCHVE/s1600/italic%2Bserifs.png" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Drawing the italic <i>n</i></h3>
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As I’ve <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/introduction-to-italics-two.html" target="_blank">mentioned</a>, fontforge contains a rudimentary tool that will “italicize” a typeface for you. While it can make a crude oblique, in no universe does this generate an actual italic. But it can be very useful in establishing the slant as well as the width and metrics of the italic ‘<i>n</i>’. Recall that italic letters are usually about <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/introduction-to-italics-one.html" target="_blank">a tenth narrower</a> than their roman counterparts, and that their stems are slightly thinner, if anything as an optical correction for their newly diagonal orientations. Then from this blank, a truly italic ‘<i>n</i>’ can be drawn. The head serif of the ‘n’ can serve as a template for the instroke and outstrokes of the italic form. You can also add in subtle design idiosyncrasies like a bent right stem and an angled vertex at the bottom left.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyNEITLQqwo/VFv_wdYhtQI/AAAAAAAAB9I/cPBL9gf_hAE/s1600/italic%2Bn.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyNEITLQqwo/VFv_wdYhtQI/AAAAAAAAB9I/cPBL9gf_hAE/s1600/italic%2Bn.png" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Deriving the u, h, m, and r</h3>
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The italic ‘<i>u</i>’ is simply a rotated copy of the ‘<i>n</i>’, with few modifications. You may find that the ‘<i>u</i>’ does not look as good as the ‘<i>n</i>’, which is actually a sign of a flawed curve in the ‘<i>n</i>’ that needs revising. In a way, the ‘<i>n</i>’ and the ‘<i>u</i>’ are designed together—in fact, inversion is a common technique for drawing attractive outlines, so many type designers design such pairs of glyphs jointly.<br />
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Once the ‘<i>n</i>’ and the ‘<i>u</i>’ are reconciled, the real party begins. The ‘<i>h</i>’ is simply an ‘<i>n</i>’ with a raised stem; the ‘<i>m</i>’ can be made from two ‘<i>n</i>’s fused together.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cj3HNQKyws4/VFwCmzBhsiI/AAAAAAAAB9U/iobJZLJ28SU/s1600/italic%2Buhm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cj3HNQKyws4/VFwCmzBhsiI/AAAAAAAAB9U/iobJZLJ28SU/s1600/italic%2Buhm.png" /></a></div>
As in the roman, the typical subtle optical corrections should be performed (a slightly wider ‘<i>h</i>’ and a slightly narrower ‘<i>m</i>’). In addition, attention should be paid to the central stem of the italic ‘<i>m</i>’, which is slightly more complex than the corresponding part of the roman ‘m’.<br />
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The ‘<i>r</i>’ is a truncated ‘<i>n</i>’, compressed somewhat. The ‘<i>r</i>’ also contains a terminal, which should be reminiscent of the terminal on the roman ‘r’, though this is far from mandatory.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iOX1hJKutmo/VFwEfk1y0iI/AAAAAAAAB9g/9ErmB6njYX8/s1600/italic%2Bmr.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iOX1hJKutmo/VFwEfk1y0iI/AAAAAAAAB9g/9ErmB6njYX8/s1600/italic%2Bmr.png" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Low hanging fruit: the i, l, and j</h3>
<br />
The linear letters—‘<i>i</i>’, ‘<i>l</i>’, and ‘<i>j</i>’ are particularly low hanging fruit. The ‘<i>i</i>’ is a combination of the upper left and lower right portions of the ‘<i>n</i>’. The tittle should be identical to the one on the roman <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" target="_blank">‘i’</a> (please do not shear it into an ellipse), but it is shifted right, in line with the stem of the ‘<i>i</i>’. The ‘<i>l</i>’ is an ‘<i>i</i>’ without the tittle, and extended upwards to the ascender line. The ‘<i>j</i>’ is, of course, an ‘<i>i</i>’ with a tail. The tail can be informed by the terminal on the ‘<i>r</i>’, though it is perfectly fine to leave it indeterminate until we get to the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" target="_blank">‘<i>f</i>’-group</a> of italics and resolve such strokes.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLSxFOuBVkY/VFwFAV__cvI/AAAAAAAAB9o/_Lf0Tq1gjWk/s1600/italic%2Bnilj.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLSxFOuBVkY/VFwFAV__cvI/AAAAAAAAB9o/_Lf0Tq1gjWk/s1600/italic%2Bnilj.png" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Vertex letters—v and w</h3>
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In roman type, <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" target="_blank">vertex letters</a>—that is to say, ‘v’, ‘w’, and company, are considered a class of their own, separate from shouldered letters like ‘n’ or bowled letters like ‘o’. In some italics, they can be considered a subtype of the shouldered letters. The ‘<i>v</i>’ below was made from a ‘<i>u</i>’ glyph. The left stem was made slightly more vertical, and a blob was added to the right side of the glyph, now missing its downstroke. The ‘<i>w</i>’ is a ligature of two ‘<i>v</i>’s, and like the ‘<i>m</i>’, care must be taken with the complex joint between the two ‘<i>v</i>’ glyphs.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dwLbyxqmD8k/VFwGk1DceII/AAAAAAAAB90/a3y-cmp9mBM/s1600/italic%2Buvw.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dwLbyxqmD8k/VFwGk1DceII/AAAAAAAAB90/a3y-cmp9mBM/s1600/italic%2Buvw.png" /></a></div>
This is not, by far, the only way to design an italic ‘<i>v</i>’. In fact, there are many varying interpretations of this letter. There are countless combinations of bowled, sharp, serifed, blobbled, and so forth ‘<i>v</i>’s. In some typefaces, the ‘<i>v</i>’ approaches a bowled character like ‘<i>o</i>’, while in others it retains its roman vertex. Some blob, chisel, ball, or serif the right arm of the ‘v’. Like the join of the ‘<i>n</i>’, ‘<i>v</i>’ shape correlates somewhat with type era, with round ‘<i>v</i>’s being more common in old style type, and sharp ‘<i>v</i>’s being more common in modern type. But of course, there are numerous exceptions to the pattern—New Caledonia and Minion Pro for example.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r82-y8Rb-m4/VFwIEoi7B6I/AAAAAAAAB-A/zHsKcMaiTaw/s1600/italic%2Bvs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r82-y8Rb-m4/VFwIEoi7B6I/AAAAAAAAB-A/zHsKcMaiTaw/s1600/italic%2Bvs.png" /></a></div>
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This takes care of approximately two-fifths of the italic lowercase alphabet, though the ‘<i>n</i>’ we’ve drawn still isn’t quite done parenting offspring. <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" target="_blank">In the next part of this post</a>, we’ll look at how to derive the ‘<i>a</i>’ from the ‘<i>u</i>’, and consequently design another huge swath of letters known as the “<a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" target="_blank"><i>a</i>-branch</a>”.<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-39980468818873594162014-11-03T17:55:00.002-05:002014-11-03T18:00:58.209-05:00Introduction to italics, part two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uVV7TSP_f8s/VFgJHMnROiI/AAAAAAAAB8U/a59s2ou6XkU/s1600/infit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uVV7TSP_f8s/VFgJHMnROiI/AAAAAAAAB8U/a59s2ou6XkU/s1600/infit.png" /></a></div>
<i><a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/introduction-to-italics-one.html" target="_blank">» Read part one of this post</a></i>.<br />
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This post will be about setting up your italic workspace, as well as an outline of what lies ahead.<br />
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<h3>
How does an italic font relate to the regular style?</h3>
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An italic font almost always shares the same <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/from-typeface-to-font-part-one.html" target="_blank">vertical metrics</a> as its roman counterpart. That means that they have the same x-height, capital height, etc. Otherwise, the italic font might rightly be regarded as a completely separate typeface from the roman. Horizontal metrics and actual letterforms, at least for the lowercase alphabet, deviate significantly, as discussed. In fact, an italic font is meant to provide contrast with the roman style.<br />
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<h3>
How do italic fonts work?</h3>
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Technology wise, italic fonts aren’t really that different from roman fonts. Italics are drawn just like any roman font, in rectangular <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/from-typeface-to-font-part-one.html" target="_blank">em boxes</a>. Italic–roman pairing in apps does require a font to be flagged as ‘Italic’, though we’ll worry about that when we get to font packaging. One very helpful thing to do is to specify the italic slant in the Font Info dialog (accessible in fontforge from <b>Element</b> → <b>Font Info</b>) This will cause fontforge to draw the italic slants as guidelines in the glyph panel, which can be immensely helpful when you’re drawing your italics. Supposedly it also lets you constrain your vertical motion to the italic slant when drawing, though this functionality appears to be broken in fontforge at the moment. The slant value is also used by word processors to slant the cursor when italics are being used.<br />
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<h3>
What’s it like to design italics?</h3>
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Designing italics is like designing a whole new typeface, so it can take much longer than say, just deriving the bold weight. However, the italic style is actually a much easier type of font to design than the roman. Designing a full slate of lowercase italics can take perhaps two days of full-time work (and maybe a few more days of polish before moving on to the capitals and numerals which are even easier to create). Many italic letters are simple variations of one another, and after designing maybe four or five letters, the entire collection comes cascading very naturally. There is a very ordered and swift sequence you can follow when designing italic letters, and you can be through in just a couple days.<br />
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<i>Italics</i></div>
<div class="lettertree italic">
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="color: #00f0a5; left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">n</a></div>
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<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="color: #00f0a5; font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the n-branch</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="color: #00f0a5; left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">l j i</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="color: #00f0a5; left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">h m r</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="color: #00f0a5; left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">u</a></div>
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<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="color: #00f3d3; left: 17%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-n-branch.html" style="color: #00f0a5; left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">v w</a></div>
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<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="color: #00f3d3; font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the a-branch</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="color: #00f3d3; left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">c</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="color: #00f3d3; left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">p b</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="color: #00f3d3; left: 17%; position: relative; width: 0;">d q</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="color: #00f3d3; left: 23%; position: relative; width: 0;">g</a></div>
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<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="color: #ff45b0; left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">t</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-a-branch.html" style="color: #00f3d3; left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o e</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="color: #00d1da; left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">f s</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="color: #00f1bc; left: 26%; position: relative; width: 0;">y</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch.html" style="color: #00d1da; font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">the f-branch</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch.html" style="color: #ff45b0; font-size: 80%; font-style: normal; font-weight: 200; left: -50%; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 0;">outliers</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="color: #00d1da; left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">x k</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/italics-f-branch-and-outliers.html" style="color: #ff45b0; left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a></div>
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If you ask me, designing italics can be quite fun actually. The letters are meant to be more lively, and the rules more relaxed. You don’t need to stress about geometric minutae like slant alignment as much, for the italic slant is very forgiving to minor inconsistencies, concealing small imperfections.<br />
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Working in fontforge has its advantages. Fontforge includes extensive tools that can actually generate a workable (but shoddy) italic given a roman font. For the lowercase alphabet, we will be using this feature rather sparingly, as it’s actually easier to design most of the italic alphabet from scratch, but it is indispensable for italicizing the uppercase alphabet—which is typically oblique rather than truly italic—and numerals and punctuation. <br />
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<h3>
Common italic problems</h3>
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Italics do have their share of unique problems, most of them owing to their slant. <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/font-extremas.html" target="_blank">Extremas</a> are a perennial headache. It’s still usually a good idea to make the major splines one-to-one—if anything because it actually makes italic glyphs look <i>better</i>—but missing extremas are generally tolerated more in italic type than they are in roman type, since extrema problems are often unavoidable in some cases (like bracketed serifs). <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/strategies-for-setting-letter-spacing-part-two.html" target="_blank">Letter spacing</a> is also a common problem, because of the slant.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gjz7QM2Y9EE/VFgGfswXp0I/AAAAAAAAB8I/YhMMcJQQAEo/s1600/italic%2Bsidebearings.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="(Floribunda) The percieved sidebearings and ‘actual’ sidebearings of an italic glyph can be very different." border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gjz7QM2Y9EE/VFgGfswXp0I/AAAAAAAAB8I/YhMMcJQQAEo/s1600/italic%2Bsidebearings.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Floribunda) The percieved sidebearings and ‘actual’ sidebearings of an italic glyph can be very different.</td></tr>
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Because italics are treated like roman fonts, with rectangular em bounds, the horizontal extremes of an italic glyph may not be the actual extent of the glyph relative to the slant angle. Because of this, the sidebearing numbers are largely meaningless, so italic type must often be spaced by eye (fontforge will tell you the sidebearings relative to the slant angle in the glyph view, but sadly does not make full use of these numbers). Keep these in mind as you design your italic font.<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-33318053661907987732014-10-30T15:38:00.002-04:002014-11-03T17:57:36.967-05:00Introduction to italics, part oneAt this point, we’ve completed the entire ASCII block (save for the at sign (@) ).<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3BALZN18rRo/VE7Hm6FDpyI/AAAAAAAAB5o/aI05kg_4Cuw/s1600/flor-chars1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3BALZN18rRo/VE7Hm6FDpyI/AAAAAAAAB5o/aI05kg_4Cuw/s1600/flor-chars1.png" /></a></div>
Now, we could go on to do one of four things. We could add more glyphs to the font—fill out the Latin Supplement block with accented letters like ‘ å ’ and a few moderately common symbols like ‘ ¢ ’ and ‘ ° ’. We could go back and actually kern the letters we’ve already made to make the spacing look nicer. We could also derive the bold weight, or we could create the italic version of the font.<br />
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I recommend doing italics first. That is because between these four projects, creating italics will add the most value to your font. A functional font family includes a regular, or <i>roman</i> style, and an <i>italic</i> style. In many cases, italics are mandatory, for setting names of works of art, for example. They are also the best way to emphasize words in text. What about deriving the bold weight, you may ask? Well, bold is much, much less commonly used than italics. A font family does not need a bold weight to be functional, though it can be a selling point. Bold is usually used in contexts where it would also be appropriate to use a completely different typeface (headings, for example). The bold weight is also much more straightforward though tedious to design. It is also <i>much</i> easier to embolden both a roman and an italic typeface to create the bold and the bold italic than to italicize both a regular and a bold font to make the italic and bold italic. That is why I like designing italics before bold.<br />
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<h3>
What are italics?</h3>
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Italics are much more different from the regular style than the bold style is. In serif type, it is possible to machine-produce a passable, though ugly, bold font given a regular font, since emboldening is a relatively straightforward and mechanical operation. Indeed, dozens of weights can be automatically interpolated (with quite good results) from just three base fonts (extra-light, regular, and black). However it is impossible for a computer to automatically produce the italic style of a serif font (something the opposite is true in sans serif type, where the “italic” is very close to a machine slanted version of the original, and the different weights are given much more consideration). That is because the serif italic letterforms themselves are drastically different from the roman letterforms. Italic letterforms are much closer to calligraphy than roman letterforms are. In fact, the italic hand is one of the most natural styles of calligraphy. This is evident in the strokes of the italic letterforms, which are more cursive than those of roman letterforms.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7ZDyAqV9_v8/VFGXkIZZe7I/AAAAAAAAB6M/L873rbRn-tg/s1600/Italic%2Bcalligraphy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7ZDyAqV9_v8/VFGXkIZZe7I/AAAAAAAAB6M/L873rbRn-tg/s1600/Italic%2Bcalligraphy.png" width="700" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Somewhat messy) italic calligraphy of some lyrics from <i>How You Get The Girl</i>, in Taylor Swift’s <i>1989</i>. While handwritten, this calligraphy is essentially the same as italic type. Compare this with the Proforma Italic sample below.</td></tr>
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For comparison, here is a sample of the italics from the Proforma font (grouped by letter shape):<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nVGhKbYZCTM/VFKJ8Zp80FI/AAAAAAAAB7Q/vBlBAU7bRaM/s1600/proforma%2Bitalic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nVGhKbYZCTM/VFKJ8Zp80FI/AAAAAAAAB7Q/vBlBAU7bRaM/s1600/proforma%2Bitalic.png" /></a></div>
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The letterforms are much more free-flowing and give a completely different texture than the roman style does. Here are some important differences.<br />
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<h3>
Italic letterforms</h3>
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Round letters like ‘o’ become more compressed and oblique. Letters like ‘n’ also become more cursive, essentially made up by one continuous stroke. Serifs are also absorbed into this stroke, meaning that “<i>vertex serifs</i>” (like on the bottom left of the ‘n’) disappear, and <i>in/outstroke serifs</i> (like the top left and the bottom right of the ‘n’) become one-sided.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-62aasPRakw8/VFGegdliNsI/AAAAAAAAB6k/_AKFDK3wZzs/s1600/o%2Bn%2Bitalic%2Boverview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-62aasPRakw8/VFGegdliNsI/AAAAAAAAB6k/_AKFDK3wZzs/s1600/o%2Bn%2Bitalic%2Boverview.png" /></a></div>
Joins everywhere move up or down to merge with a vertex rather than branching off from a stem. Some letters like ‘v’ also get more rounded, at least in some typefaces.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EuXc1ooE1bk/VFGfSNBMFpI/AAAAAAAAB6s/xY_l4JzlsXk/s1600/d%2Bv%2Bitalic%2Boverview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EuXc1ooE1bk/VFGfSNBMFpI/AAAAAAAAB6s/xY_l4JzlsXk/s1600/d%2Bv%2Bitalic%2Boverview.png" /></a></div>
A few letters change letterforms completely. The roman ‘a’ is always a double story form, but the italic ‘<i>a</i>’ is almost always the single story form. The ‘e’ loses its corner and becomes more rounded, and at least in some typefaces, the ‘g’, like the ‘a’, adopts its single story form too (though many old style typefaces preserve the looptail).<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NQFqnAKZ3qQ/VFKHzKiOs6I/AAAAAAAAB68/RrV01_kMxq0/s1600/a%2Be%2Bg%2Bitalic%2Boverview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NQFqnAKZ3qQ/VFKHzKiOs6I/AAAAAAAAB68/RrV01_kMxq0/s1600/a%2Be%2Bg%2Bitalic%2Boverview.png" /></a></div>
The italic ‘<i>f</i> ’ changes form in that it receives another arc of stem on its bottom. So ‘<i>f</i> ’ becomes a letter that contains both an ascender and a descender, unlike any other letter in the italic or roman alphabet. Italic fonts also tend to have slightly more diagonal stress than the roman (often concealed by the slant), most clearly exemplified by the ‘<i>z</i>’, where the strokes and hairlines are the reverse that they are in the roman form.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6DLk-ylpfds/VFKIX_TLdEI/AAAAAAAAB7E/69CO1XEjALE/s1600/f%2Bz%2Bitalic%2Boverview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6DLk-ylpfds/VFKIX_TLdEI/AAAAAAAAB7E/69CO1XEjALE/s1600/f%2Bz%2Bitalic%2Boverview.png" /></a></div>
<h3>
Italic slant</h3>
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Slant is very commonly associated with italic type, though some designers overuse this design element. Generally, older style type has a heavier slant, and more modern serifs have less severe slant. Garamond Italic is slanted twenty-four degrees, twice as heavily as Minion Pro is. Most typefaces have italics slanted by around 10–15 degrees. A few typefaces have no slant at all—though they are no less italic than any slanted style is. A skillful designer can produce a distinctive italic using no slant at all, another reason why italics are much more than just slanted letters.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e6erym9OB_o/VFKNkadfrEI/AAAAAAAAB7c/kL0p6Qp50pU/s1600/italic%2Bslant.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e6erym9OB_o/VFKNkadfrEI/AAAAAAAAB7c/kL0p6Qp50pU/s1600/italic%2Bslant.png" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Compression</h3>
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An often overlooked element of italic design is letter compression. Italic letters are often one-sixth to one-fourth narrower than their roman counterparts. Italic letterforms simply take up less space than roman letterforms—in fact italic type was first invented as a way to save space when printing.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_7Hb47uMtdI/VFKOkafKY8I/AAAAAAAAB7k/-QzgTmZEo6o/s1600/italic%2Bweights.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="In Proforma, the italic ‘o’ is just four-fifths the width of the roman ‘o’, and the italic ‘n’ is seven-eighths the width of the roman ‘n’." border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_7Hb47uMtdI/VFKOkafKY8I/AAAAAAAAB7k/-QzgTmZEo6o/s1600/italic%2Bweights.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Proforma, the italic ‘<i>o</i>’ is just four-fifths the width of the roman ‘o’, <br />
and the italic ‘<i>n</i>’ is seven-eighths the width of the roman ‘n’.</td></tr>
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<h3>
True italics vs faux italics</h3>
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For many, italics are just slanted versions of roman letters. This is likely because of the prevalence of sans-serif type today, where the italics really are essentially slanted roman letters (such italics are better referred to as <i>obliques</i>). This is why when italics are called for, and the font used does not have them available, the rendering engine will machine-slant them to produce <i>faux italics</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H0B-1vVU2L0/VFGbzIN_W3I/AAAAAAAAB6Y/1dWUI-H83eg/s1600/faux%2Bitalics.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H0B-1vVU2L0/VFGbzIN_W3I/AAAAAAAAB6Y/1dWUI-H83eg/s1600/faux%2Bitalics.png" /></a></div>
Faux italics are passable for sans serif type, since obliques are basically faux italics with some optical corrections made. But they ignore all the subtle (and not so subtle) differences in letterforms, compression, serifs, etc, which is why they look sheared and unnatural. Faux italics are also often over-slanted to compensate for the fact that they are just slanted roman letters, which makes them look even worse. This is also a reason why you should always design your serif italics by hand, rather than relying on an automated tool to do it for you.<br />
<br />
In the next part of this post, we’ll be going over how italic fonts actually work and the basic workflow for designing them. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/introduction-to-italics-two.html" target="_blank">» Read part two of this post</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-73924372375242668562014-10-26T15:28:00.000-04:002014-10-26T15:28:48.069-04:00Design notes: the ampersand ( & )<div class="lettertree-punctuation">
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">( )</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">.</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">,</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 0%; position: relative; width: 0;">' "</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">-</a> </div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-brackets-and-braces.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">[ ] { }</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-ampersand.html" style="left: -27%; position: relative; width: 0;">&</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-at.html" style="left: -22%; position: relative; width: 0;">@</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -18%; position: relative; width: 0;">?</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">!</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">: ;</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-asterisk.html" style="left: -1%; position: relative; width: 0;">*</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">_ = +</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 32%; position: relative; width: 0;">/ | \</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: 42%; position: relative; width: 0;">– —</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -17.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">‘’ “”</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-miscellaneous-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -2; position: relative; width: 0;">^ ` ~</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">< ></a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 31%; position: relative; width: 0;">% # $</a></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOdpCQgOgx0/VE1H3EJD7-I/AAAAAAAAB5E/CYDcTF_gM9o/s1600/%26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOdpCQgOgx0/VE1H3EJD7-I/AAAAAAAAB5E/CYDcTF_gM9o/s1600/%26.png" /></a></div>
The ampersand (especially its italic form) is one of those glyphs that sees fairly little usage but for whatever reason type designers love obsessing over.<br />
<br />
The ampersand, like the question mark, percent sign, and several other punctuation marks evolved from, you guessed it, a ligature—in this case, an ‘Et’ ligature—Latin/French for “<i>and</i>”. In most typefaces, the ‘E’ and ‘t’ have become so tangled up in each other that they are barely recognizable (italic ampersands are much more reminiscent of the ‘Et’). The pretzel-like form of the ampersand is very difficult to describe—your best bet is to just “look” at ampersands and try to copy them. The symbol has a leg that resembles the leg on the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-r.html" target="_blank">‘R’</a>, and its two bowls are more asymmetrical versions of the ones on the numeral <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-the-funniest-numbers.html" target="_blank">‘8’</a>. It also contains a serif on its arm, which is similar to the one on the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" target="_blank">‘v’</a> and rather unremarkable except that it is usually skewed with the longer side facing inward. Ampersands are usually the capital height, but have the stroke weight of the lowercase letters.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-my3cFqrEKLc/VE1IknRREbI/AAAAAAAAB5M/eIxzn9x4Zp4/s1600/ampersand.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-my3cFqrEKLc/VE1IknRREbI/AAAAAAAAB5M/eIxzn9x4Zp4/s1600/ampersand.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An ampersand from Floribunda</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-32423612566489276142014-10-25T15:16:00.002-04:002014-10-25T15:16:52.398-04:00Design notes: miscellaneous punctuation ( * ^ ` ~ )<div class="lettertree-punctuation"><div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">( )</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">.</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">,</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 0%; position: relative; width: 0;">' "</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">-</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-brackets-and-braces.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">[ ] { }</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-ampersand.html" style="left: -27%; position: relative; width: 0;">&</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-at.html" style="left: -22%; position: relative; width: 0;">@</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -18%; position: relative; width: 0;">?</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">!</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">: ;</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-asterisk.html" style="left: -1%; position: relative; width: 0;">*</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">_ = +</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 32%; position: relative; width: 0;">/ | \</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: 42%; position: relative; width: 0;">– —</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -17.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">‘’ “”</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-miscellaneous-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -2; position: relative; width: 0;">^ ` ~</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">< ></a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 31%; position: relative; width: 0;">% # $</a></div></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oOWCwVtZZR8/VEvsJO4iu2I/AAAAAAAAB4U/ieJME0xhvJ8/s1600/misc%2Bpunc.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oOWCwVtZZR8/VEvsJO4iu2I/AAAAAAAAB4U/ieJME0xhvJ8/s1600/misc%2Bpunc.png" /></a></div>There exists within the ASCII block a handful of assorted miscellaneous symbols—the asterisk ( * ), the raised caret ( ^ ), grave mark ( ` ), and tilde ( ~ ). The forms of these symbols are poorly defined, so type designers have a lot of free reign over these symbols. Except for the asterisk, these symbols are also incredibly rare, serving no purpose and having no use in proper typesetting, so they are kind of a typographical backwater.<br />
<br />
<h3>Asterisk ( * )</h3><br />
The asterisk, or “<i>star</i>”, is the only one of these four symbols to be typographically significant. All asterisks resemble a star shape, but renditions of this glyph vary wildly among typefaces. An asterisk can have five, six, seven, or eight points, and occasionally many more. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sE5nhZkC7l0/VEvw9vi6VLI/AAAAAAAAB4g/-ZvJzBxFokw/s1600/asterices.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sE5nhZkC7l0/VEvw9vi6VLI/AAAAAAAAB4g/-ZvJzBxFokw/s1600/asterices.png" /></a></div><br />
The arms of an asterisk can be wedge shaped, pointing inward or outward, or they can be teardrop shaped. Sometimes the arms are not joined at the center. An asterisk is usually about half as tall as a capital <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" target="_blank">‘I’</a>, and its upper edge is often affixed to a font’s capital overshoot. Many asterisks, particularly in old style typefaces, are rotated about ten degrees clockwise from a normal “up-pointing” star orientation.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MAzLZnvJ-1s/VEvx-LYAryI/AAAAAAAAB4o/fFwE_-4Y2-c/s1600/asterisk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Properties of the asterisk and caret in Floribunda." border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MAzLZnvJ-1s/VEvx-LYAryI/AAAAAAAAB4o/fFwE_-4Y2-c/s1600/asterisk.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Properties of the asterisk and caret in Floribunda.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><h3><a name='more'></a>Raised caret ( ^ )</h3><br />
An obsolete character, only used as a typographical fallback for marking superscripts when actual superscripts are not available. Some use it to denote agreement though. It used to be that the caret was supposed to be identical to the circumflex accent on letters like ‘ê’, though this is no longer relevant, as the circumflex glyph is encoded distinctly from the caret. The caret is often a hairline character, though it’s permissible to make the middle thicker than the ends. There are no rules as to its size other than that it should be taller than an apostrophe and shorter than a capital letter. Like the asterisk, the raised caret is a ceiling-dwelling glyph, affixed to the capital line in most fonts.<br />
<br />
<h3>Grave ( ` )</h3><br />
Another obsolete character, even less useful or common than the caret. The grave character is best designed from a grave accented letter, like ‘è’. The grave accent is always thicker at the top than at the bottom; beveling is up to the designer. In most fonts, the grave character is just the accent isolated from the letter.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nQ46vPcAxQQ/VEv0DkPRe6I/AAAAAAAAB40/qdQGsYsopns/s1600/grave%2Btilde.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The grave and tilde characters." border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nQ46vPcAxQQ/VEv0DkPRe6I/AAAAAAAAB40/qdQGsYsopns/s1600/grave%2Btilde.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The grave and tilde characters.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><h3>Tilde ( ~ )</h3><br />
A rarely-used glyph that resembles a squiggly line. Some use it as a decorative dash, and so it should be the same length as the en dash. The tilde always swings up-then-down, <i>never</i> down-then-up. All four extremes of the glyph should fit roughly inside a rectangle. The thickest part of the tilde is its middle, the thinnest parts are the two ends.<br />
<br />
<br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-28925513145892141222014-10-24T18:02:00.001-04:002014-10-24T18:04:01.147-04:00Design notes: slashed characters ( < > # % $ )<div class="lettertree-punctuation">
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">( )</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">.</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">,</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 0%; position: relative; width: 0;">' "</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">-</a> </div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-brackets-and-braces.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">[ ] { }</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-ampersand.html" style="left: -27%; position: relative; width: 0;">&</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-at.html" style="left: -22%; position: relative; width: 0;">@</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -18%; position: relative; width: 0;">?</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">!</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">: ;</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-asterisk.html" style="left: -1%; position: relative; width: 0;">*</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">_ = +</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 32%; position: relative; width: 0;">/ | \</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: 42%; position: relative; width: 0;">– —</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -17.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">‘’ “”</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-miscellaneous-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -2; position: relative; width: 0;">^ ` ~</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">< ></a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 31%; position: relative; width: 0;">% # $</a></div>
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iE2j5KBBiuE/VEcHFZPVufI/AAAAAAAAB3A/Ed4Ax3fPRyU/s1600/slash%2Bcharacters.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iE2j5KBBiuE/VEcHFZPVufI/AAAAAAAAB3A/Ed4Ax3fPRyU/s1600/slash%2Bcharacters.png" /></a></div>
From the various <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" target="_blank">hairline characters and slashes</a> we’ve designed, several more glyphs can be derived— ‘<’, ‘>’, ‘#’, ‘%’, ‘$’. These symbols, however, require slightly more artistic consideration, and their design varies much more among fonts than that of the hairline characters and slashes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Greater than and less than symbols ( < > )</h3>
<br />
The greater than/less than symbols are chevron-shaped characters used in mathematics, computer programming, and occasionally as <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" target="_blank">terminal punctuation</a>, serving a purpose similar to ‘?’ and ‘!’.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ToyW5okD2M/VEq0-w5SQiI/AAAAAAAAB3k/ZPMxlMA5RWY/s1600/less%2Bthans.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Less than signs from various typefaces. The acute angled form is by far the most common." border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ToyW5okD2M/VEq0-w5SQiI/AAAAAAAAB3k/ZPMxlMA5RWY/s1600/less%2Bthans.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Less than signs from various typefaces. The acute angled form is by far the most common.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The design of ‘<’ varies greatly among typefaces. There is no single angle prescription, like there is for ‘/’ or <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" target="_blank">‘v’</a>. Most fonts compress the glyph vertically, rendering a shape that’s wider than it is tall (giving it an acute angle). Others arrange the arms at right angles, like <a href="http://www.webtype.com/font/proforma-family/" target="_blank">Proforma</a> does. Neither form is easier or harder to design than the other, nor is one form superior to another. The orthogonal form can be made from the ‘+’ glyph, its arms stretched to √<span style="text-decoration: overline;">2</span>/2 times the x-height. The stretched form can be made from two rotated slashes, perhaps with beveling added to the vertex.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--CFctWnBKpQ/VEcH7SML_rI/AAAAAAAAB3I/4IiftCLrKPM/s1600/slash%2Bchars.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--CFctWnBKpQ/VEcH7SML_rI/AAAAAAAAB3I/4IiftCLrKPM/s1600/slash%2Bchars.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some properties of the ‘<’, ‘>’, and ‘#’ symbols</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
Octothorpe (number/pound sign, hashtag) ( # )</h3>
<br />
The octothorpe, also known commonly as the <i>hashtag</i>, or less commonly, a “<i>number sign</i>” or “<i>pound sign</i>”, is a grid-like character which is usually paid little attention in type design. The octothorpe is smaller than the capital height, and centered within it. It is often, though not always, slightly oblique; less so than the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/design-notes-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" target="_blank">slash</a> though. The horizontal cross strokes may be made thicker than the vertical/oblique strokes. The four strokes should appear to visually delineate nine congruent spaces.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>
Percent sign ( % )</h3>
<br />
Of all the symbols in this post, the percent sign is probably the most commonly used in most prose. As the symbol evolved from from a vertical ligature of a dash and an ‘o’ (the ‘o’ later became duplicated, and the dash rotated sideways), the two loops of the character are very similar to the lowercase <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" target="_blank">‘o’</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MjFso8dMsLI/VEcMybwYJ5I/AAAAAAAAB3U/bKpx1wYTQ6M/s1600/percent.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MjFso8dMsLI/VEcMybwYJ5I/AAAAAAAAB3U/bKpx1wYTQ6M/s1600/percent.png" /></a></div>
The slope of the slash varies somewhat among typefaces. In some, it’s at the same angle as the slash, in others, it’s more horizontal. The two rings are letter ‘o’s shrunk to 80 percent their original size. The new bowl width, 80 percent of the original, is fine, though the hairline parts should be thickened to match that of the lowercase letters. Around the two loops and the slash should circumscribe a parallelogram whose upper and bottom edges are parallel to the baseline.<br />
<br />
In a handful of typefaces, like New Caledonia, the percent sign is given a more script-like treatment, with the upper ring linked with the slash.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FPSls9Zftxc/VErCe9zONXI/AAAAAAAAB38/TsH-7ZBl3zc/s1600/script%2Bpercent.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Linux Libertine, New Caledonia, and Century Schoolbook, among others, are typefaces with ligated percent signs." border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FPSls9Zftxc/VErCe9zONXI/AAAAAAAAB38/TsH-7ZBl3zc/s1600/script%2Bpercent.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linux Libertine, New Caledonia, and Century Schoolbook, among others, are typefaces with ligated percent signs.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<h3>
Peso sign (dollar sign) ( $ )</h3>
<br />
The peso sign, commonly known in the United States and Dominion countries (Australia, Canada, other former white British colonies) as the <i>dollar sign</i>, is similar to the percent sign in that it also evolved from a ligature. The peso sign was once written as a ‘ps’ ligature; the ‘p’ gradually came to be written over the ‘s’, becoming the ‘$’. A great deal of alternative theories exist, some of them plausible (a monogram of “United States”—with the ‘U’ superimposed on an ‘S’, or perhaps an abstract rendition of the Spanish Empire’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillars_of_Hercules" target="_blank">Pillars of Hercules</a>), others pure libertarian crackpottery.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GbWaliSuYqU/VErG21LMfXI/AAAAAAAAB4E/YuMw29aqOGk/s1600/peso.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GbWaliSuYqU/VErG21LMfXI/AAAAAAAAB4E/YuMw29aqOGk/s1600/peso.png" /></a></div>
The ‘S’ in the peso sign is usually smaller (~90 percent) than a capital <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-s.html" target="_blank">‘S’</a>,
and it floats in between the baseline and capital line, usually closer
to the baseline. The slash is very thin, thinner than the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" target="_blank">vertical bar</a>. It overshoots the ‘S’ curve by about the width of the counters formed between the ‘S’ and the slash.<br />
<br />
The peso/dollar sign is almost always rendered with a single vertical slash, though of course, two slashes is also acceptable. An incomprehensibly disproportionate amount of controversy surrounds the number of slashes on the symbol. For many Dominion-ers and Latin Americans, a second slash is apparently symbolic of American imperialism (idrk either), for others, the single slashed form is a covert attempt by the government to devalue the currency by taking it off the gold standard (ask your friendly local Tea Party nutjob). Some associate the double struck dollar sign with greed and capitalism, while the single slashed dollar represents currency in general.<br />
<br />
The truth is, most typefaces render the peso with a single slash just because it’s easier to deal with, design wise. Two slashes tend to create a glyph that’s too dark, and can cause problems at small sizes and in bold weights. However some typefaces include both versions for countries like Brazil, where the dollar and the <i>cifrão</i> (Brazilian currency sign, always with two slashes) are distinct symbols.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-36249013169047032452014-10-19T18:29:00.002-04:002014-10-19T18:29:42.942-04:00Design notes: brackets and braces ( [ ] { } )<div class="lettertree-punctuation">
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">( )</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">.</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">,</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 0%; position: relative; width: 0;">' "</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">-</a> </div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-brackets-and-braces.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">[ ] { }</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-ampersand.html" style="left: -27%; position: relative; width: 0;">&</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-at.html" style="left: -22%; position: relative; width: 0;">@</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -18%; position: relative; width: 0;">?</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">!</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">: ;</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-asterisk.html" style="left: -1%; position: relative; width: 0;">*</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">_ = +</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 32%; position: relative; width: 0;">/ | \</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: 42%; position: relative; width: 0;">– —</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -17.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">‘’ “”</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-miscellaneous-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -2; position: relative; width: 0;">^ ` ~</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">< ></a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 31%; position: relative; width: 0;">% # $</a></div>
</div>
<br />
<h3>
Brackets</h3>
<br />
Brackets are squarish symbols which are somewhat common in prose (indicating an insertion in a quotation, or a footnote), though less common than the parenthese. They are also heavily used in mathematics, and as an uncommon emoji.<br />
<br />
Brackets are not all that hard to design at all. They can be made from one side of a capital <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" target="_blank">‘I’</a>, stretched to the dimensions of the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" target="_blank">parenthese</a>. Oftentimes the bracketing (no pun intended) of the serifs is made more horizontal to give the bracket character a more shelf-like shape. The stem of a bracket is thinner than a normal stem, but it is usually thicker than the vertical bar and the hairline characters. Brackets, while resembling them, are <i>not</i> hairline symbols.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hEtMypLs-hA/VEOmqSneTSI/AAAAAAAAB2w/d7baNK6v_l8/s1600/brackets%2Band%2Bbraces.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hEtMypLs-hA/VEOmqSneTSI/AAAAAAAAB2w/d7baNK6v_l8/s1600/brackets%2Band%2Bbraces.png" /></a></div>
<h3>
Braces</h3>
<br />
Braces (sometimes called “<i>French curly brackets</i>”) are a third type of parenthetical character. Braces are not naturally occurring glyphs. They have no usage in any form of writing, except as a math symbol used to denote sets such as <i>x</i> = { 1, 3, 5, 6 }. The only reason they even made it onto the standard keyboard is because computer programmers make heavy use of these glyphs in their code (which should be set in monospaced type anyway).<br />
<br />
Braces are difficult to describe. The best way to learn how to draw them is to look at examples from existing typefaces. Braces are also perfectly symmetrical (a rarity in type design), so you can draw the top half and just mirror it to make the bottom half.<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-19172783234624070132014-10-18T22:20:00.000-04:002014-10-19T07:30:49.161-04:00Design notes: hairline symbols ( | / \ + = _ )<div class="lettertree-punctuation">
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">( )</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">.</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">,</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 0%; position: relative; width: 0;">' "</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">-</a> </div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-brackets-and-braces.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">[ ] { }</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-ampersand.html" style="left: -27%; position: relative; width: 0;">&</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-at.html" style="left: -22%; position: relative; width: 0;">@</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -18%; position: relative; width: 0;">?</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">!</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">: ;</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-asterisk.html" style="left: -1%; position: relative; width: 0;">*</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">_ = +</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 32%; position: relative; width: 0;">/ | \</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: 42%; position: relative; width: 0;">– —</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree pline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -17.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">‘’ “”</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-miscellaneous-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -2; position: relative; width: 0;">^ ` ~</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">< ></a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 31%; position: relative; width: 0;">% # $</a></div>
<br /></div>
There exist a handful of lineal symbols—slashes, the equals sign, etc. which are relatively simple to design, even if some confusion exists about their dimensions and placements. In almost all typefaces, these characters are plain rectangles.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Slashes</h3>
<br />
Slashes—‘/’, ‘\’—sometimes called <i>solidusses</i> (or <i>solidi</i>) are hairline characters derived from a third glyph—the vertical bar ‘|’.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hYxY29bVgd8/VELn4xyajyI/AAAAAAAAB2Q/jEhFqMDJjEY/s1600/slashes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Dimensions of the various slash characters" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hYxY29bVgd8/VELn4xyajyI/AAAAAAAAB2Q/jEhFqMDJjEY/s1600/slashes.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dimensions of the various slash characters</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ul>
<li>The vertical bar is optically the same width as the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" target="_blank">en-dash</a> (or em-dash), though since it’s oriented vertically, it needs to be a bit heavier (like 0.044 ems vs 0.040 ems).</li>
<li>The vertical bar is <i>supposed</i> to extend across the entire em height. That is, the vertical bar is 1.0 ems high. But not all fonts obey this rule. There is some confusion over whether or not the bar is continuous. The vertical bar is <i>always</i> continuous—the broken form ‘ ¦ ’ is a separate character.</li>
<li>Spacing of the vertical bar varies across typefaces. I like to go with sidebearings that are twice the width of the bar itself.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The slash is the same width as the vertical bar, just inclined exactly 18 degrees away from the vertical. This figure is incredibly consistent across typefaces; in fact, many designers will naturally create slashes tilted 18 degrees without even knowing about the rule, simply because that angle looks the best to the eye. The backslash is an exact mirror reflection of the slash.</li>
<li>For most typefaces, the top of the slash terminates at the ascender line. The descent of the slash varies—some fonts bring it almost to the descender line, others to the bottom of the parentheses, and others just below the baseline.</li>
<li>For many typefaces, the slash is just a long, thin, tilted rectangle. Many other designs however, include slashes that are shaped like parallelograms, with flatly-cut bottom edges.</li>
<li>Spacing the slash is more important that most other punctuation marks, since its leaning shape and common occurrence adjacent to letters (like in <i>ft/sec</i>) make it prone to collisions. The general rule is to space the slash so that if it extended two-thirds the way to the baseline, the ends would just barely extend over the <i>shank</i> (metrical width of the glyph, shaded in the above diagram). This holds even if the slash itself terminates above or below the “two-thirds” line.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>
The plus sign, equals sign, and underscore</h3>
<br />
These three characters are all close relatives of the en dash, and are all composed of horizontal or vertical hairlines.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uEMzP5s1wQE/VELrXh8benI/AAAAAAAAB2c/Pwd1PAW_hxw/s1600/hairline%2Bcharacters.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Dimensions of the plus sign, equals sign, and underscore glyphs" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uEMzP5s1wQE/VELrXh8benI/AAAAAAAAB2c/Pwd1PAW_hxw/s1600/hairline%2Bcharacters.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dimensions of the plus sign, equals sign, and underscore glyphs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ul>
<li> The plus sign is a perfect cross—its exactly as tall as it is wide. It can be built from an en dash, copied and rotated 90 degrees. If the vertical part overshoots the mean line, the glyph should be shortened on all four axes until it fits. This means that the plus sign may be slightly narrower than an en dash.</li>
<li>Hairline characters are supposed to be monoline—that means they lack any stress whatsoever. The vertical stroke of the plus sign is just as thin as the horizontal part.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The equals sign is made up of two copies of the horizontal part of the plus sign. They should be centered about the height of the en-dash, and spaced so that they roughly outline a 2:1 rectangle.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The underscore is an en-dash affixed to the descent line (the bottom of the em rectangle) and often lengthened slightly. The ends of the underscore must <i>always</i> touch the edges of its shank—in other words, have zero sidebearings. Some fonts don’t do this—these fonts are <i>wrong</i>. Underscores, when typed repeatedly, must always form an unbroken line along the very bottoms of their em rectangles. This is for reasons similar to those for <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" target="_blank">em-dash</a>, except since the underscore is never found in normal prose (it is strictly a formatting character, used to compose crude <a href="http://practicaltypography.com/rules-and-borders.html" target="_blank">rules</a> and blanks—“______” ), it is easier to just set it with zero sidebearings than to kern consecutive underscores together. It’s also often convenient (though not at all a requirement) for the underscore glyph to be exactly half an em long.</li>
</ul>
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-19437995183262233202014-10-18T13:22:00.000-04:002014-10-18T18:18:10.653-04:00Design notes: terminal punctuation ( ? ! )<div class="lettertree-punctuation"><div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">( )</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">.</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">,</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 0%; position: relative; width: 0;">' "</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">-</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-brackets-and-braces.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">[ ] { }</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-ampersand.html" style="left: -27%; position: relative; width: 0;">&</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-at.html" style="left: -22%; position: relative; width: 0;">@</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -18%; position: relative; width: 0;">?</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">!</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">: ;</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-asterisk.html" style="left: -1%; position: relative; width: 0;">*</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">_ = +</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 32%; position: relative; width: 0;">/ | \</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: 42%; position: relative; width: 0;">– —</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -17.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">‘’ “”</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-miscellaneous-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -2; position: relative; width: 0;">^ ` ~</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">< ></a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 31%; position: relative; width: 0;">% # $</a></div><br />
</div><br />
The question mark and the exclamation point are some of the most well known punctuation marks, despite the fact that they are fairly uncommon in most prose—the reason I didn’t include it in the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" target="_blank">essential</a> <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" target="_blank">punctuation</a> posts. The question mark is not rare, though it is not common in most writing—the exception being text with an abundance of dialog. The exclamation point is rarer; most manuals of style actually recommend against using it (though in conversation, the exclamation point is close to default, and it is the <i><a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" target="_blank">period</a></i> which must be used sparingly).<br />
<br />
A long time ago, the question mark and exclamation point were ligatures of a ‘Qo’ and an ‘Jo’—the ‘Q’ standing for “question” and the ‘J’ standing for “joy”, respectively (the ‘o’ comes from the Ancient Latin versions of these words, which both ended in ‘o’). The ‘Q’ degenerated to become the curved stroke over the ‘o’, which collapsed into a dot, forming the ‘?’. The ‘Jo’ degenerated in a similar way, with the ‘J’ becoming the stem of the exclamation point (though the ‘J’ was written as a straight vertical stroke, ‘I’, back then anyway).<br />
<br />
<h3>The question mark</h3><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The question mark is one of the hardest punctuation marks to design. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UvnJprh2Ssc/VEKZHO_aspI/AAAAAAAAB10/kAHiefSGC-Y/s1600/%3F.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UvnJprh2Ssc/VEKZHO_aspI/AAAAAAAAB10/kAHiefSGC-Y/s1600/%3F.png" /></a></div><ul><li>For whatever reason, the stress on the question mark is opposite that of conventional western calligraphy. Why? It probably has something to do with the fact that when this glyph is drawn in pencil or ballpoint pen, it is most natural for us to put the most pressure on the diagonal strokes.</li>
<li>The stroke of the question mark terminates about one period’s width above its lower dot. The stroke’s finial rarely “points” at the dot, rather it’s directed to a location somewhat to the right.</li>
<li>The height of the question mark varies among typefaces. Some make it the capital height, others raise it all the way to the ascender line (usually more modern style typefaces). Many make the question mark somewhere between those two heights.</li>
</ul><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<ul></ul><h3>The exclamation point</h3><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wkEhkA3t0Ho/VEKdA_ePomI/AAAAAAAAB2A/HPLNi14Zmlc/s1600/!.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wkEhkA3t0Ho/VEKdA_ePomI/AAAAAAAAB2A/HPLNi14Zmlc/s1600/!.png" /></a></div><ul><li> The exclamation point is very easy to design. The stem is almost always tapered from top to bottom. The shape of the straight apostrophe (') might be helpful as a base.</li>
<li>Exclamation points without a lot of tapering take extra space between their stems and their dots. That’s because at small sizes, the dot and the stem merge vertically into a single stroke—extra space in between helps prevent this from happening.</li>
</ul><br />
<ul></ul>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-64896249105598566842014-10-17T15:54:00.002-04:002014-10-18T13:24:22.045-04:00Design notes: loopy numerals ( 6 9 and 8 )<div class="lettertree numeral">
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i I</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-c.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">a c</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">b o</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">1</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">3</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-the-funniest-numbers.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">6 9</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">0</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-two-five-seven-and-four.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">4</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-two-five-seven-and-four.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">5 2</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-the-funniest-numbers.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">8</a></div>
<br />
<div class="lettertree lline">
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-two-five-seven-and-four.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">7</a></div>
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rAajg-Su1JA/VEFuJqREDaI/AAAAAAAAB1E/sWjrPYZ2JQw/s1600/698.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rAajg-Su1JA/VEFuJqREDaI/AAAAAAAAB1E/sWjrPYZ2JQw/s1600/698.png" /></a></div>
The numbers ‘6’, ‘9’, and ‘8’ are certainly the hardest numerals to design. They contain no straight lines and no obvious guidelines to design from. These numerals largely have to be drawn by eye, though we can employ a circle-method similar to the one we used for the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-s.html" target="_blank">‘s’</a> to make the ‘8’.<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
6 and 9</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gfShuzasLbc/VEFu8MKSO7I/AAAAAAAAB1M/jHCmMwdtg-4/s1600/6%2B9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gfShuzasLbc/VEFu8MKSO7I/AAAAAAAAB1M/jHCmMwdtg-4/s1600/6%2B9.png" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li>Perhaps the best guide we have for drawing the ‘6’ is the lowercase <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-b-and-l.html" target="_blank">‘b’</a>, as the stress on the two glyphs’ bowls is similar. The ‘6’ is also about the same width as the ‘b’.</li>
<li>The joint between the tip of the bowl and the numeral’s arc (left side) is rarely smooth. Usually there is a vertex on the inside.</li>
<li>The terminal often extends almost all the way to the right extreme of the glyph.</li>
<li>The ‘9’ is a perfect 180 degree rotation of the ‘6’. There are very few adjustments that should be made to it (though some designers like to shrink the bowl of the ‘9’ slightly). That means that if your ‘9’ looks funny, then it’s probably indicative of a poorly drawn curve in your ‘6’. In this way, the ‘6’ and the ‘9’ are, in a way, designed simultaneously, as each can help you improve the other.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>
8</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-15EpbDkYUiE/VEFwl85yZ_I/AAAAAAAAB1Y/9UWm0JNnjm0/s1600/8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-15EpbDkYUiE/VEFwl85yZ_I/AAAAAAAAB1Y/9UWm0JNnjm0/s1600/8.png" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li> The ‘8’ can be outlined roughly by four circles, similar to those used to construct the ‘s’. The diagonal stroke goes ‘downhill’; the thinner finials that merge into it are oriented ‘uphill’.</li>
<li>The typical rules of stress (so often ignored in the Arabic numerals) apply to the ‘8’. The upper right and lower left portions of the numeral’s bowls are stressed along with the diagonal.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HRltjIeWf_A/VEFymFOWawI/AAAAAAAAB1k/qFSlpRtcIks/s1600/flor.numerals.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HRltjIeWf_A/VEFymFOWawI/AAAAAAAAB1k/qFSlpRtcIks/s1600/flor.numerals.png" /></a></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-21827519177509468752014-10-15T21:00:00.000-04:002014-10-17T15:57:09.837-04:00Design notes: the numerals 2 5 7 and 4<div class="lettertree numeral"><div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i I</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-c.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">a c</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">b o</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">1</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">3</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-the-funniest-numbers.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">6 9</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">0</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-two-five-seven-and-four.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">4</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-two-five-seven-and-four.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">5 2</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-the-funniest-numbers.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">8</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-two-five-seven-and-four.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">7</a></div></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShkfCl-4jZk/VDwJjpLnXRI/AAAAAAAAB0M/KcD0Sp6GXi0/s1600/2574.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShkfCl-4jZk/VDwJjpLnXRI/AAAAAAAAB0M/KcD0Sp6GXi0/s1600/2574.png" /></a></div>The ‘2’, ‘5’, ‘7’, and ‘4’ can be derived from the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" target="_blank">‘1’</a> and <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" target="_blank">‘3’</a>.<br />
<br />
<h3>2 and 5</h3>The ‘2’ and the ‘5’ take the upper and lower bowls of the ‘3’, respectively, and combine it with a stressed horizontal stroke.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Swot70kTpH0/VDwJ_y0TcdI/AAAAAAAAB0U/SLXc5lv4W4o/s1600/325.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Swot70kTpH0/VDwJ_y0TcdI/AAAAAAAAB0U/SLXc5lv4W4o/s1600/325.png" /></a></div><ul><li>The ‘2’ is a hard glyph to design. The upper bowl of the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" target="_blank">‘3’</a> has to be extended out all the way to the baseline, where it meets a stressed arm that ends in a beak serif.</li>
<li>The thickest part of the ‘2’ is the upper right portion of its bowl. The thinnest part is the joint between the bowl and the arm.</li>
<li>The joint is never a loop (as the ‘2’ is often handwritten), and it almost never bends back out (like it does in some poorly designed sans serif fonts). The vertex is thinner than the arm is.</li>
<li>The arm of the ‘2’ is slightly wider than the bowl is. It also carries stress, but is geometrically thinner than the stem width for optical reasons.</li>
<li>The lower bowl of the ‘5’ is almost traced from the lower bowl of the ‘3’. The terminal curves up less, however, and at least in the lining ‘5’, the top part of the bowl angles up before curving down.</li>
<li>The vertical hairline linking the ‘5’s flag (horizontal stroke) and bowl is sometimes angled slightly to the right.</li>
<li>The flag of the ‘5’ either has no serif (shown above), or has an overshooting upturn serif.</li>
</ul><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>7</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vv_4DzOW40A/VDwpmauRJLI/AAAAAAAAB0k/X9yC8HjCjf8/s1600/7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vv_4DzOW40A/VDwpmauRJLI/AAAAAAAAB0k/X9yC8HjCjf8/s1600/7.png" /></a></div><ul><li> The ‘7’ receives the flag of the ‘5’, and also the serif and the width of the ‘2’, rotated 180 degrees. The diagonal usually kicks out past the midline of the glyph.</li>
<li>The diagonal of the ‘7’ is a extreme case of the radial flaring that we’ve seen in letters like <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" target="_blank">‘v’</a>. It starts out as a hairline and as you get to the bottom, the stroke widens to the stem width. However, some designers like Slimbach want nothing to do with this uncalligraphic convention, so they make the diagonal entirely hairline (though the widening is still there for optical compensation).</li>
<li>A lot like with the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-k.html" target="_blank">‘K’</a>, you might need to bend the diagonal geometrically to <i>prevent it</i> from looking bent <i>optically</i>.</li>
<li>The foot of the ‘7’ <i>should never</i> have a serif. Ever.</li>
</ul><br />
<h3>4</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B75AN0chxLE/VDwrjrMCQMI/AAAAAAAAB0w/zixSQcrGgBY/s1600/4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B75AN0chxLE/VDwrjrMCQMI/AAAAAAAAB0w/zixSQcrGgBY/s1600/4.png" /></a></div><ul><li> The stem of the ‘4’ comes from the ‘1’, or the capital <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" target="_blank">‘I’</a> if you don’t feel like shrinking the serifs back down.</li>
<li>The enclosure of the ‘4’ forms a triangle; its slope is approximately 4:3. Its vertex should receive beveling.</li>
<li>The diagonal part of the ‘4’ is the thinnest part of the numeral. The cross stroke has a thickness somewhere between the stem thickness and the hairline thickness. The cross stroke extends out about one stem width past the numeral’s stem, and always projects out farther than the figure’s bilateral serif (if it has one).</li>
<li>The jury is out on whether the ‘4’ should receive serifs. A highly seriffed typeface might place serifs on both the stem and the end of the cross stroke (particularily in the old style forms), while a less aggressively seriffed design might omit both serifs. Most typefaces put a serif on the stem, but not on the cross stroke in the lining form, and omit both in the old style form.</li>
</ul><br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-35648798071831303652014-10-14T13:13:00.000-04:002014-10-17T15:56:52.686-04:00Design notes: The numbers 1 3 and 0<div class="lettertree numeral"><div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i I</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-c.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">a c</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">b o</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">1</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">3</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-the-funniest-numbers.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">6 9</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-one-three-and-zero.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">0</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-two-five-seven-and-four.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">4</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-two-five-seven-and-four.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">5 2</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-the-funniest-numbers.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">8</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-number-two-five-seven-and-four.html" style="left: -2%; position: relative; width: 0;">7</a></div></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QGWX4Ym5K4E/VDv_HTB2SMI/AAAAAAAABzo/-pLAYOay3P0/s1600/130.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QGWX4Ym5K4E/VDv_HTB2SMI/AAAAAAAABzo/-pLAYOay3P0/s1600/130.png" /></a></div><br />
<h3>1 and 0</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DzkvFCCTEro/VDv_MNTYpuI/AAAAAAAABzw/WC8oYrn7Gx0/s1600/1%2B0.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DzkvFCCTEro/VDv_MNTYpuI/AAAAAAAABzw/WC8oYrn7Gx0/s1600/1%2B0.png" /></a></div><ul><li>Numbers are often slightly shorter than capital letters. It can be convenient to set the capital line as the overshoot for the numerals, and the numeral line slightly below it. Lining numerals are also the same weight as capital letters.</li>
<li>The ‘1’ is a combination of the stem of the capital <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" target="_blank">‘I’</a> and the head serif of the ‘l’. The serifs of the ‘1’ are significantly longer than either letter’s.</li>
<li>The flag (top serif) of the ‘1’ is almost never curved, like it is in handwriting and some grotesque sans serifs.</li>
<li>The ‘0’ is about the same width as the lowercase <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" target="_blank">‘o’</a>, just taller. Remember to match weights with the capital <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" target="_blank">‘O’</a>.</li>
</ul><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>3</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-928FWFmTo7k/VDwAlvWz27I/AAAAAAAABz8/InXaV4SuUXY/s1600/a%2Bc%2B3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-928FWFmTo7k/VDwAlvWz27I/AAAAAAAABz8/InXaV4SuUXY/s1600/a%2Bc%2B3.png" /></a></div><ul><li> The upper bowl of the ‘3’ is similar to the arc of stem of the lowercase <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" target="_blank">‘a’</a>. However, it rarely has a serif or blobbing (except in didone typefaces). It usually tapers out in a finial.</li>
<li>The lower bowl can be derived from a lowercase ‘c’ rotated 180 degrees.</li>
<li>The two bowls meet about at the median of the ‘H’. Like the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-b.html" target="_blank">‘B’</a>, the lower bowl is always wider than the upper bowl.</li>
<li>The terminal of the lower bowl has blobbing about half the time, and about half the time it doesn’t. It’s up to you.</li>
</ul>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-83080757715589514782014-10-13T12:00:00.000-04:002014-10-13T12:47:05.451-04:00Introduction to Arabic numerals: what are old style and monospace numerals?Arabic (or more accurately, Indian) numerals are single character numerical glyphs like ‘1’ or ‘6’. Perhaps because of ease of access, Arabic numerals are somewhat overused, but they are mandatory for writing out numbers with more than two digits.<br />
<br />
It’s not commonly known that numerals come in both capital and lowercase forms. Capital, or <i>lining numerals</i>, are the type most people are most familiar with today, probably because they are almost always the default. Lowercase, or <i>old style numerals</i>, are rarer, but still common in professional typesetting. Some type designers refer to lining and old style numerals as lining and old style <i>figures</i>—this means the exact same thing as <i>numerals</i>.<br />
<br />
Numerals also come in different widths—monospace (or tabular) and proportional. Monospace means that all the numbers (glyph plus sidebearings) have the same width; proportional means that they only take up the space they need. This means that a font might include up to four different styles of numerals—monospace lining (usually the default), proportional lining, monospace old style, and proportional old style. Many fonts also include lowercase versions of symbols like the percent sign and currency symbols to go with the old style figures.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vaQCXXh1koA/VDvsMKUI6YI/AAAAAAAABzA/h23F1-eKBWg/s1600/numbers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vaQCXXh1koA/VDvsMKUI6YI/AAAAAAAABzA/h23F1-eKBWg/s1600/numbers.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A font might include up to four different styles of numerals. <br />
(The font used here is Warnock Pro, by Robert Slimbach).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<a name='more'></a>As you might suspect, capital or lining numerals should be used with capital letters, and lowercase or old style numerals with lowercase letters. Because old style figures are often difficult (or impossible) to access in many apps, it is also acceptable (but not preferable) to set lining numerals in a lowercase context. This website is set with lining numerals—simply because Source Sans, the font I use, doesn’t include old style numerals. However setting old style numerals in a capital context is <i>always</i> wrong.<br />
<br />
Think of it this way. Often, we EMPHASIZE certain words by setting them in ALL CAPS. This is WRONG (use <i>italics</i> instead), but widespread, so we usually tolerate it.<br />
<br />
BUT WHEN TEXT IS SET IN ALL CAPITALS, (AS IS SOMETIMES STYLISTICALLY DESIRED), IT can LOOK WRONG TO have CERTAIN WORDS in LOWERCASE. IT’S THE SAME deal WITH NUMERALS.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PcW71wwgOnM/VDvs4KvWemI/AAAAAAAABzI/3P5NBFAGiA0/s1600/numeral%2Busage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PcW71wwgOnM/VDvs4KvWemI/AAAAAAAABzI/3P5NBFAGiA0/s1600/numeral%2Busage.png" /></a></div>
Numeral width exists for a different reason. If prose writers had their way, all numerals would be proportional. They look better that way. You just can’t make the number ‘1’ and the number ‘4’ take up the same space and have it look great. Monospaced numerals only exist for one reason—and that’s for setting tables and rows of numbers. Having all the numbers be the same width makes them line up nicely in a table. So monospaced numerals can be pretty darn useful.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rK3IN_0dUNo/VDvyVBBCjsI/AAAAAAAABzY/YmMvF8W_HcI/s1600/mono%2Bv%2Bprop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rK3IN_0dUNo/VDvyVBBCjsI/AAAAAAAABzY/YmMvF8W_HcI/s1600/mono%2Bv%2Bprop.png" /></a></div>
So which numerals should a font include by default? Some fonts, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FF_Scala" target="_blank">Scala</a>, put the old style figures as default. But almost all fonts have monospace lining numerals as their default. Why? It’s the safest thing to do. Very few apps let you toggle between the four styles of numbers. So if you are setting tables of numbers, or ALL CAPS text, and your font includes proportional old style numerals as the default, you’re out of luck. Fonts store these characters as glyphs, so it’s possible (but painstakingly difficult) to insert them manually through an Insert Special Character dialog. Their encoding positions are somewhat standardized, at least among fonts from the same foundry, so switching from Warnock to Arno Pro isn’t likely to screw up all your numerals. But this is difficult and risky, so <i>the convention is to place monospace lining numerals in the default slots</i>, since this style is least likely to be wrong.<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-17904099481971223672014-10-12T20:56:00.000-04:002014-10-18T18:17:18.818-04:00Design notes: essential high punctuation ( – — ‘ ’ “ ” )<div class="lettertree-punctuation"><div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">( )</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">.</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">,</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 0%; position: relative; width: 0;">' "</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">-</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-brackets-and-braces.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">[ ] { }</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-ampersand.html" style="left: -27%; position: relative; width: 0;">&</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-at.html" style="left: -22%; position: relative; width: 0;">@</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -18%; position: relative; width: 0;">?</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">!</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">: ;</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-asterisk.html" style="left: -1%; position: relative; width: 0;">*</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">_ = +</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 32%; position: relative; width: 0;">/ | \</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: 42%; position: relative; width: 0;">– —</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -17.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">‘’ “”</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-miscellaneous-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -2; position: relative; width: 0;">^ ` ~</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">< ></a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 31%; position: relative; width: 0;">% # $</a></div><br />
</div>Many amateur type designers are unaware that the punctuation marks that fontforge shows by default in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII" target="_blank">ASCII block</a> (or the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin-1_Supplement_%28Unicode_block%29" target="_blank">Latin Supplement block</a> right after it) are not the only punctuation characters in common use. High punctuation marks—characters like the dashes ( – — ) and curly apostrophes and quotes ( ‘ ’ “ ” )—live in another Unicode block (glyph encoding scheme) called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Punctuation_(Unicode_block)" target="_blank">General Punctuation</a>, buried beneath a myriad of Vietnamese glyphs and Polytonic Greek letters.<br />
<br />
General Punctuation encodes about a hundred assorted punctuation characters that couldn’t be fit into the original ASCII block. Most of them are whitespace characters (we’ll get to those) and obscure glyphs like ‘※’. About a third of them however are commonly used in professional typesetting—including but not limited to the aforementioned dashes and apostrophes, the primes ( ′ ″ ), the ellipsis ( … ), the asterism ( ⁂ ), the daggers ( † ‡ ), and the permille sign ( ‰ ). Any decent font should eventually include these characters (though the primes and asterism are often overlooked), but the essential members are the dashes and curly apostrophes.<br />
<br />
To jump to the General Punctuation block, you have to change your font’s encoding to Unicode ( <b>Encoding</b> → <b>Reencode</b> → <b>ISO 10646-1 (Unicode, BMP)</b> ) and go to <b>View</b> → <b>GoTo</b> and select <b>General Punctuation</b> from the dropdown menu on the dialog (or just scroll down until you see punctuation marks). Once you touch the slots you want to create, you can reencode your font back into the regular Latin-1 encoding and fontforge will remember the extra glyphs and include them at the end of your glyph table.<br />
<br />
<h3>Dashes</h3><br />
Dashes ( – — ) should <i>not</i> be confused with <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" target="_blank">hyphens</a>. They have a different grammatical meaning, even if they are often misused. Dashes come in two lengths—a short dash called a <i>nut</i> or <i>en dash</i>, used for ranges (<i>120–145 miles</i>), conflicts (<i>Iran–Iraq war</i>), scores (<i>54–7</i>), and occasionally as an abbreviation for the word “to” (<i>the New York–Albany train</i>)—and a long dash often simply called a <i>dash</i> or more specifically, an <i>em dash</i>. The em dash is a pause mark that has a meaning somewhere between a semicolon, comma, and colon. Many people who don’t know how to type these characters—or are using a font that doesn’t contain them—replace the en dash with a hyphen (-) and the em dash with two consecutive hyphens (--). Which is <i>wrong</i>. Others simply don’t use dashes, which is just silly. Look in any professionally typeset publication and you will find an abundance of dashes.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0h0u-R4Z2D0/VDsKkPP4pKI/AAAAAAAAByg/smOLnka6zH8/s1600/dashes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The em dash is almost one em long. The en dash is about half as long, and the hyphen about a quarter as long." border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0h0u-R4Z2D0/VDsKkPP4pKI/AAAAAAAAByg/smOLnka6zH8/s1600/dashes.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The em dash is almost one em long. The en dash is about half as long, and the hyphen about a quarter as long.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Dashes are almost always perfect rectangles, with no beveling or other calligraphic traits. Historically, the em dash got its name because it was supposed to be one em long (the width of a letter ‘M’, in the old days). The en dash was half as long (the width of a letter ‘N’ back then). Of course, just as the ‘M’ and ‘N’ are no longer bound by such strict proportions, neither are the dashes. Em and en dashes in most fonts are about ten percent shorter than a perfect em square and 1:2 em rectangle, respectively. In Floribunda, the en dash is 0.42 ems (420 font units) long, and the em dash is 0.9 ems long. Dashes sit at the same height as the hyphen does, but are often somewhat thinner. Thinner dashes tend to look more elegant.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>In many fonts, the dashes are set with zero sidebearings, to make it easier to construct horizontal rules (lines) out of them. Which is generally bad typesetting practice, but it can also be useful for typesetting the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinculum_%28symbol%29" target="_blank">vincula</a> in horizontal fractions and stuff. This, however, doesn’t look very good when the dashes are used for their intended purpose. So some fonts pad them with sidebearings. Personally, I believe in padding my dashes, and then <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning" target="_blank">kerning</a> them together when they occur next to each other, as they would when used to create rules and vincula.<br />
<br />
<h3>Curly quotes and apostrophes</h3><br />
These characters are slightly more common, if only because most word processors insert them automatically.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WbJvHkPuils/VDshS9lRbII/AAAAAAAAByw/ZXg3pwlAzTY/s1600/curly%2Bapostrophes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WbJvHkPuils/VDshS9lRbII/AAAAAAAAByw/ZXg3pwlAzTY/s1600/curly%2Bapostrophes.png" /></a></div>Curly quotes and apostrophes are usually variants of the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" target="_blank">comma</a> glyph. They tend to be a bit smaller and less extreme in shape, however. The left curly apostrophe is the same as the right curly apostrophe, only rotated 180 degrees, so that the head faces downwards. The curly quotes are constructed from the curly apostrophes the exact same way that the straight quote is constructed from the straight apostrophe.<br />
<br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-24853617597211205922014-10-11T17:31:00.000-04:002014-10-18T18:16:50.577-04:00Design notes: The first punctuation marks<div class="lettertree-punctuation"><div class="lettertree pline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-a.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">a</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">( )</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">.</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -5%; position: relative; width: 0;">,</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 0%; position: relative; width: 0;">' "</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">-</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-brackets-and-braces.html" style="left: -35%; position: relative; width: 0;">[ ] { }</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-ampersand.html" style="left: -27%; position: relative; width: 0;">&</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-at.html" style="left: -22%; position: relative; width: 0;">@</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -18%; position: relative; width: 0;">?</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-sentence-tone-marks.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">!</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-first-punctuation-marks.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">: ;</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-asterisk.html" style="left: -1%; position: relative; width: 0;">*</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 10%; position: relative; width: 0;">_ = +</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slashes-and-hairline-symbols.html" style="left: 32%; position: relative; width: 0;">/ | \</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: 42%; position: relative; width: 0;">– —</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree pline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-high-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -17.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">‘’ “”</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-miscellaneous-punctuation-one.html" style="left: -2; position: relative; width: 0;">^ ` ~</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">< ></a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-slash-characters.html" style="left: 31%; position: relative; width: 0;">% # $</a></div><br />
</div>There are about seventeen punctuation marks in common use in prose: . , ; : ? ! ' " - ( ) ‘ ’ “ ” – and —. The nine simplest will be covered in this post.<br />
<br />
<h3>The period and the comma</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fWwZl07wjvM/VDmX_e_91sI/AAAAAAAABxo/IeRtHz6yWiA/s1600/period%2Band%2Bcomma.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fWwZl07wjvM/VDmX_e_91sI/AAAAAAAABxo/IeRtHz6yWiA/s1600/period%2Band%2Bcomma.png" /></a></div><ul><li>The period is basically the same as the tittle (dot) on the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" target="_blank">‘i’</a>, though often slightly larger.</li>
<li>Periods and other very small baseline-dwelling punctuation marks require padded sidebearings so that they are legibly distinct from the letters before them. Their sidebearings are twice as wide as a typical rounded letter’s.</li>
<li>Periods sit on the baseline, with a very small undershoot. </li>
<li>The comma is a period with a tail. The tail extends about one period-height below the baseline.</li>
<li>The head of the comma is usually a bit thinner than the period, since the comma is longer. It is also a good idea to have the head of the comma be somewhat evocative of the terminals in its typeface.<br />
<a name='more'></a></li>
</ul><br />
<h3>Colons and semicolons</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZtFaufuL7tk/VDmZO85JLII/AAAAAAAABx0/ATooRvtt71I/s1600/colon%2Band%2Bsemicolon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZtFaufuL7tk/VDmZO85JLII/AAAAAAAABx0/ATooRvtt71I/s1600/colon%2Band%2Bsemicolon.png" /></a></div><ul><li>Colons and semicolons are pretty straightforward to design. The colon is a period with an extra dot floating just below the mean line, and the semicolon is a colon with the lower dot replaced with a comma.</li>
<li>It’s a common misconception that the colon is written with the bottom dot floating above the baseline. This form is a similar but distinct glyph called the <i>raised colon</i>, and is only to be used between capital letters and numbers (alternatively, some fonts have vertical kerning that raises the colon in an uppercase or numerical context, like Apple does in iOS). The lower dot of a regular colon sits right where the period goes.</li>
<li>The upper dots of these glyphs lie very close to the mean line; they are not found floating in the middle.</li>
</ul><br />
<h3>Straight apostrophes and quotation marks</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N1Qc4V7HBJ8/VDmaKzRCxXI/AAAAAAAABx8/Uo2SSb8Rt94/s1600/straight%2Bapostrophes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N1Qc4V7HBJ8/VDmaKzRCxXI/AAAAAAAABx8/Uo2SSb8Rt94/s1600/straight%2Bapostrophes.png" /></a></div><ul><li>The straight apostrophe and quotation mark are incredibly simple to design. They are just tapered rectangles that extend from the capital line down to about five-sixths the way to the mean line. The top of the straight apostrophe is always wider than the bottom.</li>
<li>The quotation mark is simply two apostrophes combined into one glyph. Leave a space of about one apostrophe-width in between them.</li>
<li>Apostrophes have very thin sidebearings to avoid making unsightly gaps in contracted words like “it’s”.</li>
<li>In an ideal world, these glyphs would <a href="http://practicaltypography.com/straight-and-curly-quotes.html" target="_blank">never be used</a>. There is <i>almost never</i> a case where an experienced typographer would use straight apostrophes or quotes, <i>except</i> when typesetting literal computer code. Except when denoting minutes and seconds (or feet and inches—like 6′ 2″ ), these glyphs should always be replaced with curly quotes ( ‘ ’ “ ” ). Minutes and seconds should be written with the proper prime characters ( ′ ″ ). </li>
</ul><br />
<h3>Hyphens</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mKicCYB9CV0/VDmdsn9URSI/AAAAAAAAByI/_xXQ_wiroNU/s1600/hyphen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mKicCYB9CV0/VDmdsn9URSI/AAAAAAAAByI/_xXQ_wiroNU/s1600/hyphen.png" /></a></div><ul><li>A hyphen is a simple rectangle. It should be a bit shorter and a bit thicker than the crossbar on the ‘f’.</li>
<li>Hyphens, like colons, live centered between the baseline and mean line, not the baseline and capital line. They should be about as high up as the cross in the ‘x’.</li>
<li>Spacing-wise, hyphens are padded more than you’d think. Side bearings of over 45/1000 ems are appropriate.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<h3>Parentheses</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PVkRjknGIgg/VDmePI4UaJI/AAAAAAAAByQ/phoY9d8pi7Q/s1600/parentheses.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PVkRjknGIgg/VDmePI4UaJI/AAAAAAAAByQ/phoY9d8pi7Q/s1600/parentheses.png" /></a></div><ul><li>Of all the punctuation characters discussed in this post, parentheses are probably the hardest to design. They are approximately 90 degree arcs that taper at the ends.</li>
<li>Parentheses extend from the ascender line down to about two-thirds the way from the baseline to the descender line.</li>
<li>While parentheses have stress (highly exaggerated—it cannot be reproduced with any broad-nibbed writing instrument), they are almost always perfectly symmetrical vertically (ie stressed didone-ly). Some very old style typefaces give them diagonal stress though.</li>
</ul>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-26252721533377916032014-10-10T20:47:00.004-04:002014-10-10T21:54:10.183-04:00Testing your font in print<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z16APX9OZJs/VDiFqF5AG_I/AAAAAAAABw8/iKDr8BJKDdk/s1600/Paper%2Btest%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z16APX9OZJs/VDiFqF5AG_I/AAAAAAAABw8/iKDr8BJKDdk/s1600/Paper%2Btest%2B2.png" width="700" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-forest-and-the-trees.html" target="_blank">We’ve made test texts before</a>, but those were all at the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/floribunda-has-complete-lowercase.html" target="_blank">sentence</a> or the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/strategies-for-setting-letter-spacing-part-one.html" target="_blank">paragraph</a> (at a stretch) level. Now that I have a full upper and lowercase glyph set, spaced and all, and some rudimentary punctuation marks, I can set entire passages of text in Floribunda. (Since the last post, I’ve spaced the capitals and added some basic punctuation marks— ‘.’ ‘-’ and ‘,’ . Spacing capitals is done basically the same way that the lowercase letters are spaced; punctuation will be covered in a later post).<br />
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Producing test pages is not hard. Just grab some text from a random Wikipedia article (preferably one that contains few numbers or special characters), and format it into columns set in your font. Throw in different-point-sized and ALL CAPS text generously—the capital text in mine is set in <a href="http://practicaltypography.com/small-caps.html" target="_blank"><i>faux small capitals</i></a> (the most bearable of the four typographical ‘faux’s, in my opinion anyway)—and you might want to include some <a href="http://www.prepressure.com/design/basics/reversed-type" target="_blank">knockout</a> and grayscale type as well. Then just print it out on paper (please be kind to the environment and reuse some computer paper that’s been printed on on the other side—type design does not require blank new paper). Here is the page I used; the passage is taken from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora" target="_blank">the Wikipedia article on Auroras</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7p8eI8CbHDQ/VDhwLpCCuRI/AAAAAAAABv0/q600FOdh5Uk/s1600/test%2Bpage%2B3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7p8eI8CbHDQ/VDhwLpCCuRI/AAAAAAAABv0/q600FOdh5Uk/s1600/test%2Bpage%2B3.png" /></a></div>Note that the ideal body text font size to use is much smaller than you’re used to specifying. For most typesetters, 12 point type is clumsily gargantuan, and generally reserved for headings and other display text. Most body text in magazines and textbooks is set in about an 8–9 point font (this corresponds to about a 10–11-pixel em square). Don’t believe me? Print out some nine point text and compare it to a copy of TIME magazine. The type will probably be about the same size.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xv98SMWMmZw/VDhszZv-AcI/AAAAAAAABvo/dmaAZCX-F3g/s1600/Paper%2Btest%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xv98SMWMmZw/VDhszZv-AcI/AAAAAAAABvo/dmaAZCX-F3g/s1600/Paper%2Btest%2B1.png" width="700" /></a></div><br />
I used this page to test changes I made to the font, both large and small. It is a good way to help iron out issues like inconsistent weight and such. You can also use it to test glyph redesigns. Here are some of the small (glyph level) changes I made:<br />
<br />
I really didn’t like the terminal on the ‘c’, so I changed it to this brushlike shape:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aRHisy9PTjM/VDhytFUuNMI/AAAAAAAABwA/fxGwQrNskzo/s1600/new%2Bc.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aRHisy9PTjM/VDhytFUuNMI/AAAAAAAABwA/fxGwQrNskzo/s1600/new%2Bc.png" /></a></div>That meant all the other letters with blob terminals (‘f’, ‘a’, ‘r’, ‘y’) had to change as well:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qjuyw3wj8Zo/VDhy6Fa2VkI/AAAAAAAABwI/tRScGjWajjY/s1600/new%2Bterminals.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qjuyw3wj8Zo/VDhy6Fa2VkI/AAAAAAAABwI/tRScGjWajjY/s1600/new%2Bterminals.png" /></a></div>The test passage can help you determine which changes are helpful and which ones are disruptive. For example, when testing the ‘a’ with its new terminal, I found that it needed some additional modifications to work well, which is why it now has an angled spur and a slightly inflected bowl.<br />
<br />
I also changed the lowercase ‘k’ to better match its <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-r-and-k.html" target="_blank">disjointed capital version</a>:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FDh9vExyBSI/VDhzQS0BAsI/AAAAAAAABwQ/xaXEUAu3E5k/s1600/new%2Bk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FDh9vExyBSI/VDhzQS0BAsI/AAAAAAAABwQ/xaXEUAu3E5k/s1600/new%2Bk.png" /></a></div>And found that the ‘x’ looked a bit unbalanced within words:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-erTVGK_pUtc/VDh0E6_PHhI/AAAAAAAABwY/bgu_-p6pNzs/s1600/new%2Bx.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-erTVGK_pUtc/VDh0E6_PHhI/AAAAAAAABwY/bgu_-p6pNzs/s1600/new%2Bx.png" /></a></div>And the ‘T’ got overshoots on its serifs (like the ‘Z’ does).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDaeKStx_eE/VDh0LOBrfkI/AAAAAAAABwg/5pgPivLsYkM/s1600/new%2BT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDaeKStx_eE/VDh0LOBrfkI/AAAAAAAABwg/5pgPivLsYkM/s1600/new%2BT.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Test pages are great for testing changes in individual glyphs, but more importantly, they help you detect problems in legibility over a span of multiple paragraphs. Scan your test page and make a note of its legibility, texture, color, and generally whether the font looks good. With Floribunda, I didn’t find any major issues, though I did notice the letter spacing was a bit too tight and the letterforms too narow. I widened the letterforms slightly, and increased all the sidebearings to make the font more legible.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hAYjLWVJCqg/VDiLLgbNLXI/AAAAAAAABxY/PHwWl2aD4_8/s1600/paragraph%2Bletter%2Bspacing.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hAYjLWVJCqg/VDiLLgbNLXI/AAAAAAAABxY/PHwWl2aD4_8/s1600/paragraph%2Bletter%2Bspacing.png" /></a></div>On the left is the original font, on the right is the new version. Note that in fontforge, you can increment all the sidebearings at once by selecting all the glyphs and going to <b>Metrics</b> → <b>Set LBearing</b> → <b>Increment LBearing By</b>, and then doing the same with the right sidebearing and twice the left bearing increment (because for some reason fontforge doesn’t increment the advance width along with the left sidebearing, so whatever is added to the left bearing is taken away from the right sidebearing). Note that you should only increment by a few font units at a time. Adding just ten font units to the sidebearings of every glyph can have a drastic effect on letterspacing in an entire passage, since all those little slivers of extra letterspacing add up.<br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-13459066239946898812014-10-07T17:23:00.000-04:002014-10-11T14:18:30.318-04:00Design notes: The capital R and K<div class="lettertree-capital"><div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">s</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-z.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">v</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">S</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">I</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">V</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">O</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">Z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-h-and-j.html" style="left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">H J</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-u.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">U</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-x-w-a-and-y.html" style="left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">X W A Y</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -25%; position: relative; width: 0;">G Q</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">C</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-e-f-l-and-t.html" style="left: -3%; position: relative; width: 0;">E F L T</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m-and-n.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">M</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-d-and-p.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">D P</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-k.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">K</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m-and-n.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">N</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-b.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">B</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-r.html" style="left: 2%; position: relative; width: 0;">R</a></div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P1YVgiF9Uxw/VDHzKRO6-SI/AAAAAAAABuc/L8tbs8iIF6o/s1600/K%2BR.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P1YVgiF9Uxw/VDHzKRO6-SI/AAAAAAAABuc/L8tbs8iIF6o/s1600/K%2BR.png" /></a></div>The last two letters to design are the ‘K’ and the ‘R’. The ‘K’ should be made first, since the tail of the ‘R’ inherits from it.<br />
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<h3>K </h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tDeo1-xnso4/VDHzX7wmZaI/AAAAAAAABuk/n9NzgbKYavk/s1600/Capital%2BK.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tDeo1-xnso4/VDHzX7wmZaI/AAAAAAAABuk/n9NzgbKYavk/s1600/Capital%2BK.png" /></a></div><ul><li>The capital ‘K’, like its lowercase version, is built from a stem (‘I’) and the letter <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-x-w-a-and-y.html" target="_blank">‘X’</a>. The lowercase ‘k’ itself can also be helpful for modeling the tail. ‘K’ is about the same width as the ‘X’, sometimes slightly thinner.</li>
<li>Inner serifs, of course, are shortened, and the serif on the upper arm expanded, <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-k.html" target="_blank">just like with the lowercase ‘k’</a>.</li>
<li>Often times the arm is extended back past the vertex, so that it connects to the stem (<a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-k.html" target="_blank">covered</a> in the lowercase ‘k’ tutorial). Here, I made a disjointed ‘K’, where the arm and leg meet at a point.</li>
<li>If you make a disjointed ‘K’, an optical correction may be in order to prevent the vertex from looking bent down. This involves adding a slight upturn to the vertex. Shown below is an uncorrected ‘K’ (left) and a corrected ‘K’ (right).</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EvphkoowgH8/VDH1S1U-1pI/AAAAAAAABuw/ZDF0Nuyu7Ao/s1600/Capital%2BK%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EvphkoowgH8/VDH1S1U-1pI/AAAAAAAABuw/ZDF0Nuyu7Ao/s1600/Capital%2BK%2B2.png" /></a></div><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>R </h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wm2LVdC_Zb8/VDH1XTDzElI/AAAAAAAABu4/nJx7wSef-Wc/s1600/Capital%2BR.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wm2LVdC_Zb8/VDH1XTDzElI/AAAAAAAABu4/nJx7wSef-Wc/s1600/Capital%2BR.png" /></a></div><ul><li> The ‘R’ is a combination of the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-d-and-p.html" target="_blank">‘P’</a> and the ‘K’. The bowl of the ‘R’ is smaller than that of the ‘P’, but slightly larger than the upper bowl of the ‘B’. As such; the bowl and the leg of the ‘R’ join at a point somewhere between the ‘H’s median (bottom of the upper ‘B’ bowl) and the bottom of the ‘P’s bowl.</li>
<li>The tail of the ‘R’ always extends out farther than its bowl. Otherwise the letter looks unbalanced.</li>
<li>Speaking of balance, shorten that ‘P’ foot serif—the letter is balanced, and so it doesn’t need a lengthened serif there. If anything it should be <i>shorter</i> than usual. (But you already knew that, didn’t you?)</li>
<li>If the bowl hasn’t become a hairline by the time it sprouts the tail, it should be made a hairline there, or else an ink trap is in order (just like in the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-b.html" target="_blank">‘B’</a>).</li>
<li>‘R’, like ‘P’ and ‘K’, has a disjointed and a joined form. The ‘R’ above is the disjointed form. Below is the disjointed and joined (from Minion Pro) form shown alongside each other.</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zQUwBoMPV5Y/VDH25K5yJTI/AAAAAAAABvE/UmAuwsxDsYE/s1600/Capital%2BR%2Bforms.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zQUwBoMPV5Y/VDH25K5yJTI/AAAAAAAABvE/UmAuwsxDsYE/s1600/Capital%2BR%2Bforms.png" /></a></div><br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-23321080240192003022014-10-06T15:23:00.000-04:002014-10-06T15:23:15.817-04:00Design notes: miscellaneous capital letters ( U B S )<div class="lettertree-capital"><div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">s</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-z.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">v</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">S</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">I</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">V</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">O</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">Z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-h-and-j.html" style="left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">H J</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-u.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">U</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-x-w-a-and-y.html" style="left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">X W A Y</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -25%; position: relative; width: 0;">G Q</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">C</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-e-f-l-and-t.html" style="left: -3%; position: relative; width: 0;">E F L T</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m-and-n.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">M</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-d-and-p.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">D P</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-k.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">K</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m-and-n.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">N</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-b.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">B</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-r.html" style="left: 2%; position: relative; width: 0;">R</a></div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_9_lEEwxjj4/VDGtymQsfHI/AAAAAAAABto/q6jPrsL3gDo/s1600/N%2BP%2Bs%2BU%2BB%2BS.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_9_lEEwxjj4/VDGtymQsfHI/AAAAAAAABto/q6jPrsL3gDo/s1600/N%2BP%2Bs%2BU%2BB%2BS.png" /></a></div>At this point, I’ve covered almost all of the “hard” letter forms, and by now, you should be familiar with many of the subtle and mundane rules of type design. So it makes more sense now to just release a few design notes on each of the remaining letters pointing out some oft-overlooked features of their letterforms.<br />
<br />
<h3>U</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mISqiQBNneg/VDGxtRH9tDI/AAAAAAAABt0/j4wUmIw3QsM/s1600/Capital%2BU.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mISqiQBNneg/VDGxtRH9tDI/AAAAAAAABt0/j4wUmIw3QsM/s1600/Capital%2BU.png" /></a></div><br />
<ul><li>This letter is about the same width as the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m-and-n.html" target="_blank">‘N’</a> and the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" target="_blank">‘V’</a>.</li>
<li>Like the ‘M’ and ‘N’, the ‘U’ defies the typical calligraphic stress rules. While some typefaces such as Cambria follow the rules strictly, making ‘U’s with two thick stems, it is overwhelming convention to make the upstroke a hairline, just like in the ‘N’. In fact, the stems are often exactly identical.</li>
<li>While this varies somewhat, usually the bowl of the ‘U’ is a hairline as well, with stress only appearing left of the letter’s minimum. In other words, as you trace the letter from left to right, the stress disappears at the minimum, just as you’d expect calligraphically, but when the curve comes back up to finish out the letter, the stress never reappears.</li>
<li>The left stroke is usually identical to the top half of the ‘I’ glyph.</li>
<li>Curve onset usually occurs about a two-thirds the way down the letter. The bowl usually occupies a rectangle with sides in a 2 : 1 ratio.<a name='more'></a></li>
</ul><br />
<ul></ul><h3>B</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bXhMxxeiKLQ/VDGzpZu1qTI/AAAAAAAABuA/4mfCPzq6AuY/s1600/Capital%2BB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bXhMxxeiKLQ/VDGzpZu1qTI/AAAAAAAABuA/4mfCPzq6AuY/s1600/Capital%2BB.png" /></a></div><ul><li> This letter can be made somewhat easily by duplicating the bowl of a <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-d-and-p.html" target="_blank">‘P’</a> . If your typeface has very diagonal stress, be sure to check that that has been preserved when you do this.</li>
<li>The upper bowl is slightly shorter than that of the ‘P’ ; the lower bowl is a bit wider. The two meet at the median of the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-h-and-j.html" target="_blank">‘H’</a>.</li>
<li>The joint where the two bowls first meet needs a slight ink trap (a deepening of a crease) to prevent a dark spot from forming there, optically.</li>
<li>The bracketing present on the lower left corner of the ‘D’ is also there on the ‘B’.</li>
</ul><br />
<h3>S</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Aghii0kV6Xo/VDG3Ex8niWI/AAAAAAAABuM/Am1Gtk-V4mE/s1600/Capital%2BS.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Aghii0kV6Xo/VDG3Ex8niWI/AAAAAAAABuM/Am1Gtk-V4mE/s1600/Capital%2BS.png" /></a></div><ul><li>The letter ‘S’ is extremely similar to its <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-s.html" target="_blank">lowercase version</a>. You can make it by simply scaling up the lowercase ‘s’.</li>
<li>Remember to correct for weight, since the scaled up ‘s’ will almost certainly be too heavy to pass as a capital ‘S’.</li>
<li>The serif on the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" target="_blank">‘C’</a> is a good reference for correcting the serifs on the ‘S’.</li>
</ul><br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-82999070836272145402014-10-05T14:52:00.000-04:002014-10-05T17:35:41.859-04:00Glyph design: zigzag capitals ( M N )<div class="lettertree-capital"><div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">s</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-z.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">v</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">S</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">I</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">V</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">O</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">Z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-h-and-j.html" style="left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">H J</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-u.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">U</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-x-w-a-and-y.html" style="left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">X W A Y</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -25%; position: relative; width: 0;">G Q</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">C</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-e-f-l-and-t.html" style="left: -3%; position: relative; width: 0;">E F L T</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m-and-n.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">M</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-d-and-p.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">D P</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-k.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">K</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m-and-n.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">N</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-b.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">B</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-r.html" style="left: 2%; position: relative; width: 0;">R</a></div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZxKUBnfgBj0/VDCgZAYqMyI/AAAAAAAABsY/azqaO1kg4Zw/s1600/I%2BV%2BM%2BN.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZxKUBnfgBj0/VDCgZAYqMyI/AAAAAAAABsY/azqaO1kg4Zw/s1600/I%2BV%2BM%2BN.png" /></a></div>There are two letters in the capital alphabet composed of diagonal strokes contained between vertical stems—‘M’, and ‘N’. Because of the letters’ architecture, they violate the typical rules of stress. Strictly, the ‘M’ should go thick–thick–thin–thick (from left to right), and the ‘N’ should consist entirely of stressed strokes. But just like with the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-z.html" target="_blank">‘z’</a> (which, strictly, would be entirely hairline), some strokes in the ‘M’ and ‘N’ are arbitrarily made thin so that the stress alternates with each stroke. Owing to the pointed-nib calligraphy pen, which stresses in part based on the direction the stroke is drawn in—up being thin and down being thick—the usual convention is to make the ascending leg of the ‘M’ and both stems of the ‘N’ into hairlines.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hRxeCeaDpzQ/VDCjV5NGRJI/AAAAAAAABss/b4UJWfxM20g/s1600/M%2Bslant.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Sabon and Minion Pro have slanted stems, while Proforma has vertical stems on its ‘M’." border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hRxeCeaDpzQ/VDCjV5NGRJI/AAAAAAAABss/b4UJWfxM20g/s1600/M%2Bslant.png" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sabon and Minion Pro have slanted stems, while Proforma has vertical stems on its ‘M’.</td></tr>
</tbody></table> The ‘M’ can be made either from the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-x-w-a-and-y.html" target="_blank">‘W’</a>, or from the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" target="_blank">‘I’ and ‘V’</a>. It depends on the slant of the outer stems. Some typefaces, like Sabon and Minion Pro (and a few sans serifs, like Futura) have slanted stems, others like Proforma have vertical stems. Floribunda will have an unslanted ‘M’, so this tutorial will use the ‘I’ and ‘V’ method. The two ‘I’ glyphs should overlap with the ‘V’ just enough so that their intersection points lie at roughly the same height as the lower edge of the ‘I’ brackets. The left ‘I’ should also be thinned to the hairline thickness.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H9D8WGrODjw/VDCiU9JfKxI/AAAAAAAABsk/QIcxdM3Hfog/s1600/Capital%2BM%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H9D8WGrODjw/VDCiU9JfKxI/AAAAAAAABsk/QIcxdM3Hfog/s1600/Capital%2BM%2B1.png" /></a></div><br />
<a name='more'></a>Only a few adjustments will need to be made—namely the removal of the inner upper serifs, and of course, the usual adjustments on the lower serifs.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iAmOBWhH3Yg/VDCk8vSU5lI/AAAAAAAABtA/9XC9WlNYXbU/s1600/Capital%2BM%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iAmOBWhH3Yg/VDCk8vSU5lI/AAAAAAAABtA/9XC9WlNYXbU/s1600/Capital%2BM%2B2.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>The ‘N’ is made by taking the left side of the ‘M’ and rotating a copy 180 degrees, as shown. The ‘N’ is usually the same width as the ‘H’, though its stems are the hairline thickness. The ‘N’s stems are joined by a single diagonal, which meets its right stem at a vertex (with no serifs).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oHk4dRkT2jU/VDGQusnKzYI/AAAAAAAABtQ/IhD0-H37q3Q/s1600/Capital%2BN%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oHk4dRkT2jU/VDGQusnKzYI/AAAAAAAABtQ/IhD0-H37q3Q/s1600/Capital%2BN%2B1.png" /></a></div>The letter’s crotches may need to be adjusted so that the letter looks more symmetrical. It is common for the lower edge of the diagonal to be somewhat collinear with the bracket on its upper left serif. Its stem serifs should also be skewed in the <i>opposite direction</i> that they were on the ‘M’ (meaning the longer side faces the interior of the letter), since they now need to fill the enormous apertures created by the ‘N’s form.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mqddMl02CgE/VDGRhQJOLZI/AAAAAAAABtY/lCk9QlQwDkI/s1600/Capital%2BN%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mqddMl02CgE/VDGRhQJOLZI/AAAAAAAABtY/lCk9QlQwDkI/s1600/Capital%2BN%2B2.png" /></a></div><br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-79737217616378033052014-10-03T21:42:00.001-04:002014-10-05T17:35:30.468-04:00Glyph design: letters with bowls, part one ( D P )<div class="lettertree-capital"><div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">s</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-z.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">v</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">S</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">I</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">V</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">O</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">Z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-h-and-j.html" style="left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">H J</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-u.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">U</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-x-w-a-and-y.html" style="left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">X W A Y</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -25%; position: relative; width: 0;">G Q</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">C</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-e-f-l-and-t.html" style="left: -3%; position: relative; width: 0;">E F L T</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">M</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-d-and-p.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">D P</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-k.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">K</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-n.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">N</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-b.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">B</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-r.html" style="left: 2%; position: relative; width: 0;">R</a></div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-acUAD8QZCe4/VC4BiMeXJRI/AAAAAAAABrg/DZ0Ii8SFV8w/s1600/C%2BE%2BD%2BP.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-acUAD8QZCe4/VC4BiMeXJRI/AAAAAAAABrg/DZ0Ii8SFV8w/s1600/C%2BE%2BD%2BP.png" /></a> </div>The ‘D’ and ‘P’ are perhaps the most difficult letters of the uppercase alphabet to nail. They require you to blend straight letter forms, like the arms of the ‘E’, into a round bowl, like the one on the ‘C’.<br />
<br />
The ‘D’ can be made by taking the left side of the ‘E’, and attaching it to the bowl of a ‘C’, rotated 180 degrees (<i>never reflected horizontally!</i>). <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mEwtN3MUdeo/VC4CtKtJFfI/AAAAAAAABro/Ra29TvV3aBk/s1600/Capital%2BD%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mEwtN3MUdeo/VC4CtKtJFfI/AAAAAAAABro/Ra29TvV3aBk/s1600/Capital%2BD%2B1.png" /></a></div><br />
<a name='more'></a>It can be extremely difficult to make the curve of the ‘D’ look smooth. The line–curve transition is simply something bézier curves don’t handle well. It’s also worth noting that the stress of the ‘D’ is slightly more vertical than on the ‘C’, since the letter has vertical symmetry.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-txw79Lgenoo/VC4DFv_jdoI/AAAAAAAABrw/_rplIPrv-Tw/s1600/Capital%2BD%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-txw79Lgenoo/VC4DFv_jdoI/AAAAAAAABrw/_rplIPrv-Tw/s1600/Capital%2BD%2B2.png" /></a></div>The stem of the ‘P’ is taken from the stem of the ‘F’. Like the ‘F’, the ‘P’ is “unbalanced”, so it has an uneven foot serif. The letter’s bowl is more difficult to make; the ‘D’ can offer some guidance though. In the Roman tradition, the bowl is disjointed from the stem at the middle, which I’ve done in Floribunda’s ‘P’ (a few other typefaces like Le Monde Journal do this too).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LrCfozIzJ6M/VC9O5OpoplI/AAAAAAAABsA/HCCozpQc-is/s1600/Capital%2BP%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LrCfozIzJ6M/VC9O5OpoplI/AAAAAAAABsA/HCCozpQc-is/s1600/Capital%2BP%2B1.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>The bowl of the ‘P’ often extends down past the median of the ‘H’, occupying significantly <i>more</i> than 50% of the capital height instead of just <i>under</i> 50%.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8aMkY_-PQQ/VC9PtqrmpdI/AAAAAAAABsI/iddF9HCa5rA/s1600/Capital%2BP%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8aMkY_-PQQ/VC9PtqrmpdI/AAAAAAAABsI/iddF9HCa5rA/s1600/Capital%2BP%2B2.png" /></a></div><br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-6922454678550995002014-09-28T10:38:00.000-04:002014-10-05T17:35:09.760-04:00Glyph design: V-derived letters ( X W Y A )<div class="lettertree-capital"><div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">s</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-z.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">v</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">S</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">I</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">V</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">O</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">Z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-h-and-j.html" style="left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">H J</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-u.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">U</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-x-w-a-and-y.html" style="left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">X W A Y</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -25%; position: relative; width: 0;">G Q</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">C</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-e-f-l-and-t.html" style="left: -3%; position: relative; width: 0;">E F L T</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">M</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-d-and-p.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">D P</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-k.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">K</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-n.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">N</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-b.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">B</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-r.html" style="left: 2%; position: relative; width: 0;">R</a></div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-quTXGdP5Pbc/VCbDPqx605I/AAAAAAAABqg/qEQ1DJkBPUw/s1600/VXWYA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-quTXGdP5Pbc/VCbDPqx605I/AAAAAAAABqg/qEQ1DJkBPUw/s1600/VXWYA.png" /></a></div>Just as <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" target="_blank">three letters</a> can be made from the ‘O’, <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-h-and-j.html" target="_blank">two</a> from the ‘I’, and <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-e-f-l-and-t.html" target="_blank">four</a> from the ‘H’ and ‘Z’, three letters—‘W’, ‘Y’, and ‘A’—can be made from the ‘V’. The capital ‘X’ will also be included since it has many things in common with the ‘V’.<br />
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The ‘X’ is constructed just like the ‘V’—take a lowercase ‘x’ and extend its arms and diagonals to the capital line and the baseline. The strokes should intersect at the height of the ‘H’s median. The letterform is very slightly narrower than a proportionally scaled lowercase ‘x’ though. When we embolden the ‘X’, the extra weight on the diagonal goes on the inside, reducing its slope slightly. On the arms, it goes on the outside, increasing the skew between the two arms slightly (else the arms look misaligned).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N0gR4qXlN48/VCbEDx2yq1I/AAAAAAAABqo/1DYz2ceRtPs/s1600/Capital%2BX.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N0gR4qXlN48/VCbEDx2yq1I/AAAAAAAABqo/1DYz2ceRtPs/s1600/Capital%2BX.png" /></a></div>The ‘W’ is constructed <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-w-and-y.html" target="_blank">just like its lowercase counterpart</a>—Start with two ‘V’s, overlap them, reduce (or even remove) the middle serif, and compress the letterform slightly.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6SnWIBEaBtA/VCbFcRIY-7I/AAAAAAAABq0/37YW9VT30Z8/s1600/Capital%2BW.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6SnWIBEaBtA/VCbFcRIY-7I/AAAAAAAABq0/37YW9VT30Z8/s1600/Capital%2BW.png" /></a></div><br />
<a name='more'></a>The ‘Y’ is a ‘V’ compressed vertically and attached to the lower half of an ‘I’, just below the height of the ‘H’s median. The letter’s fork (the ‘V’-shaped part) receives some horizontal compression to compensate, but the slope is still more horizontal than in the ‘V’, so you may need to adjust the bracketing on its upper serifs.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RRC_YEIAJ_Y/VCbF-PIwojI/AAAAAAAABq8/s__n084H9Ns/s1600/Capital%2BY.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RRC_YEIAJ_Y/VCbF-PIwojI/AAAAAAAABq8/s__n084H9Ns/s1600/Capital%2BY.png" /></a></div>When handling weight, ‘Y’ looks best when the inner edge of its diagonal (left stroke) is collinear with the corner point between its stem and arm (right stroke).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gJccbA_UUSY/VCbGxJJ5jHI/AAAAAAAABrE/_Oa7SYNeAFw/s1600/Capital%2BY%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gJccbA_UUSY/VCbGxJJ5jHI/AAAAAAAABrE/_Oa7SYNeAFw/s1600/Capital%2BY%2B2.png" /></a></div>The ‘A’ is almost exactly a letter ‘V’ rotated 180 degrees, plus a crossbar. The crossbar is the same width as the one on the ‘H’, but located much lower, even lower than the crossbar on the ‘e’. The crossbar increases the letter’s stroke density slightly, pushing its hairline (inverted arm) and diagonal apart a few font units. The outer serifs are sometimes shortened very slightly, for no reason other than that flared serifs are less tolerable on the baseline than on the mean line or capital line.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F4ifhwZBpKA/VCbI5UPPy1I/AAAAAAAABrQ/BnGjCPmQVxg/s1600/Capital%2BA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F4ifhwZBpKA/VCbI5UPPy1I/AAAAAAAABrQ/BnGjCPmQVxg/s1600/Capital%2BA.png" /></a></div><br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-920432553103948637.post-9561321128568284722014-09-27T10:36:00.001-04:002014-10-05T17:34:40.130-04:00Glyph design: box capital letters ( E L F T )<div class="lettertree-capital"><div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">s</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-o.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">o</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-z.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-i.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">i</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/08/glyph-design-lowercase-v.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">v</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-s.html" style="left: -30%; position: relative; width: 0;">S</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 11%; position: relative; width: 0;">I</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: 20%; position: relative; width: 0;">V</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -20%; position: relative; width: 0;">O</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" style="left: -10%; position: relative; width: 0;">Z</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-h-and-j.html" style="left: 5%; position: relative; width: 0;">H J</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-u.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">U</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-x-w-a-and-y.html" style="left: 30%; position: relative; width: 0;">X W A Y</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -25%; position: relative; width: 0;">G Q</a><br />
<a class="completed-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-g-q-and-c.html" style="left: -15%; position: relative; width: 0;">C</a><br />
<a class="current-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-e-f-l-and-t.html" style="left: -3%; position: relative; width: 0;">E F L T</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-m.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">M</a> </div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-d-and-p.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">D P</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-k.html" style="left: 15%; position: relative; width: 0;">K</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-n.html" style="left: 28.5%; position: relative; width: 0;">N</a></div><br />
<div class="lettertree lline"><a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-b.html" style="left: -11%; position: relative; width: 0;">B</a><br />
<a class="no-letter" href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/10/glyph-design-capital-r.html" style="left: 2%; position: relative; width: 0;">R</a></div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p9OzL-pEtts/VCYay_4LfCI/AAAAAAAABpU/RDsL_DS2M9E/s1600/HZLEFT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p9OzL-pEtts/VCYay_4LfCI/AAAAAAAABpU/RDsL_DS2M9E/s1600/HZLEFT.png" /></a></div>The box group of capital letters—‘E’, ‘L’, ‘F’, and ‘T’—all have a vertical stem derived from the capital <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" target="_blank">‘I’</a> and horizontal arms derived from the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-drawing-first-capitals.html" target="_blank">‘Z’</a>. Some—‘E’ and ‘F’—are also divided by a median aligned with the crossbar on the <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-capital-h-and-j.html" target="_blank">‘H’</a>. Three of the letters—‘L’, ‘F’, and ‘T’ are degenerate versions of the fourth—the ‘E’. So designing the ‘E’ means we get the other three relatively easily. However ‘E’ is very complex to design, so it helps to draw the ‘L’ first and make the ‘E’ from that.<br />
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The ‘L’ takes its stem from the ‘I’, and its arm from the ‘Z’. Experiment with different letter widths to find the best proportions. The joint between the two strokes also benefits from some bracketing on the inside.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UCD6aSqqvWs/VCYm2XPja6I/AAAAAAAABps/sztQvX4kadQ/s1600/Capital%2BL.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UCD6aSqqvWs/VCYm2XPja6I/AAAAAAAABps/sztQvX4kadQ/s1600/Capital%2BL.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<a name='more'></a>The ‘E’ is built by giving another arm and beak serif to an ‘L’. The upper beak serif is always smaller and slightly shorter than the bottom one. It also tends to be less angled. The outer edge of the upper beak should be inside the inner edge of the lower beak serif. The interior corner between the upper arm and the stem exhibits less, if any bracketing than the lower corner.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X7JYEDDVrIk/VCYnnh9g_PI/AAAAAAAABp4/2Ogwbvblhs4/s1600/Capital%2BE%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X7JYEDDVrIk/VCYnnh9g_PI/AAAAAAAABp4/2Ogwbvblhs4/s1600/Capital%2BE%2B1.png" /></a></div>The ‘E’ also has a median crossbar, like on the ‘H’. It terminates with a double bilateral serif called a <i>tie</i>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FNV7TRegHu0/VCYoMzP4EfI/AAAAAAAABqA/PE1wXPsbmnc/s1600/Capital%2BE%2B2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FNV7TRegHu0/VCYoMzP4EfI/AAAAAAAABqA/PE1wXPsbmnc/s1600/Capital%2BE%2B2.png" /></a></div>The tie can be made from an ordinary bilateral serif rotated ninety degrees and compressed, thickened, and shortened significantly. The tie terminates well inside of the inner edge of the top beak serif. Note that because ‘E’ contains <i>three</i> horizontal serifs, its serifs are shorter than those of other letters with less stroke density. The stoke density also often means that ‘E’ is mathematically a bit wider than ‘L’ to maintain the same optical width.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Db_WewwYHf8/VCYooO-lFxI/AAAAAAAABqI/uaiKr1ZNG0o/s1600/Capital%2BE%2B3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Db_WewwYHf8/VCYooO-lFxI/AAAAAAAABqI/uaiKr1ZNG0o/s1600/Capital%2BE%2B3.png" /></a></div>The ‘F’ and ‘T’ can be very easily constructed from the ‘E’. The ‘F’ is an ‘E’ missing the lower arm. Because of the reduced stroke density, the letter gets narrower (slightly!), the horizontal serifs get longer, and the median arm migrates downward slightly. Just like in its lowercase version, the right side of the letter’s foot serif is extended to help “balance” the letter.<br />
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The ‘T’ is, in turn, an ‘F’ missing the median arm (its upper arm is also reflected on the other side). Since it has an even lower stroke density, its beak serifs are slightly longer than those of both the ‘F’ and the ‘E’. Since the upper arm is reflected, the arms must be compressed significantly to preserve letter width (to some degree). If you are constructing ‘T’ from ‘F’, remember that ‘T’ is symmetrical, an so does not need any “balancing” on its foot serif.<br />
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Occasionally the beak serifs on the ‘T’ will overshoot the capital line, much like the one on the lowercase <a href="http://letterpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/glyph-design-lowercase-z.html" target="_blank">‘z’</a>. There are, of course, many typefaces (like Floribunda) however that sand off those overshoots to create a flat-topped ‘T’.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QSBYnyEa_yE/VCYpRVMyDiI/AAAAAAAABqQ/mLWe-q9Lcec/s1600/Capital%2BF%2Band%2BT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QSBYnyEa_yE/VCYpRVMyDiI/AAAAAAAABqQ/mLWe-q9Lcec/s1600/Capital%2BF%2Band%2BT.png" /></a></div><br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com