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We have been participating in #36daysoftype to sneak peek our upcoming typeface Adapter by @wmntrs and @slava_jevcinova. The idea is to show a bit of typeface-design trivia for each letter. I will repost the images in this thread with an abbreviated commentary. / @36daysoftypePermalink On twitter.com
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Even though the strokes in many sans serifs appear uniform, they incorporate subtle weight differences following the convention based on a broad-nibbed pen. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_aPermalink On twitter.com
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Adapter has two versions: Text and Display. Adapter Text has the rounded counters in the shape of an olive (somewhere between a circle and a rounded square) so they get rastered nicely on screen or in small print. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_bPermalink On twitter.com
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In Adapter Display, @wmntrs made the endings of the rounded strokes a bit more pointed than what is typical in contemporary, down-to-earth sans serifs. The result is adds a nice spark to headlines and posters. @36daysoftype @drawbotapp #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_cPermalink On twitter.com
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Compared to Adapter Text, Adapter Display has rounder bowls and it is narrower. This is something that would not look as nice in small sizes, but becomes practical in headlines. @36daysoftype @drawbotapp #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_dPermalink On twitter.com
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The letter “E” might seem to be split in two halfs by its middle bar. However, its bottom is usually a little bit bigger. The bar is thus positioned in the so-called optical centre. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_ePermalink On twitter.com
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Designers often adore ligatures and include their excessive amounts fonts. The truth is, for simple sanses such as Adapter, they are not needed. The letter “f” can be shaped and spaced to avoid clashes with other letters. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_fPermalink On twitter.com
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Looking at the Display version of Adapter reveals fragile details which would not easily survive in text sizes, i.e. below 12 pt. 1/4 @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_gPermalink On twitter.com
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Text typefaces have to negotiate constraints imposed by production technologies (the size of the printing dot, the ink spread, whether it emits or reflects the light), but also the limits of the human visual system (can humans actually see this level of detail at this size?). 2/4Permalink On twitter.com
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My (David’s) way of thinking about the latter is that there is a different proportion between a visible unit of light (a virtual representation of what ends up on human retina) and the letters. The smaller the letters, the relatively bigger these light units are. 3/4Permalink On twitter.com
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The narrowest part of the cleavage in the letter “G” would only reflect a few light units in display sizes (the purple circles) and none of the big ones (yellow circles) would be reflected, thus making this detail meaningful only in large sizes. 4/4Permalink On twitter.com
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The animation shows how the weight increases in Adapter Display. Note how the proportion of the x-height (yellow) changes in relation to the height of ascenders (orange) and descenders (purple/magenta). @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_h @drawbotappPermalink On twitter.com
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Every now and then, we come across words like Illinois or Illustrator which, when typeset in typefaces like Helvetica, may be hard to decipher. Do they start with the captial letter “I” (eye) or lowercase letter “l” (el)? @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_iPermalink On twitter.com
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In order to make the rounded dot accents appear as heavy as the main vertical strokes of “i” and ”j”, one needs to make the dots a bit wider than the geometric width of the strokes. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_jPermalink On twitter.com
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To make designers’ lives easier, we have made the italics of Adapter duplexed. The upright “K” has the same width as the italic “K” and same applies to all the other letters. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_k @drawbotappPermalink On twitter.com
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Here is another classic way to distinguish the “I” (eye) and ”l” (el). The hooked el was most famously used by Edward Johnston in his sans for the London Underground. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_lPermalink On twitter.com
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Getting the stroke weights right (as discussed for the “A”) becomes even more of a challenge for the italic “M”. If all the strokes were equally thick, the left one (3) and the third from the left (4) would seem too heavy. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_mPermalink On twitter.com
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The animation shows weight variations available in Adapter Text. Individual nodes on the bézier curves are being positioned using a linear interpolation as the weight changes. 1/2 @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_nPermalink On twitter.com
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The interpolation has been saving typeface designers’ work for many years, but it is now also used within variable-fonts technology to permit custom variations defined by a user and to save space. 2/2Permalink On twitter.com
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Another way to visualize the interpolation of different weight-styles of the letter “O”. It shows nicely that when strokes get thicker, more weight is added towards the inside of the letter. 1/2 @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_oPermalink On twitter.com
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As a result, the letters keep relatively consistent proportions (width vs. height) across the different weight-styles. If the weight was increased equally on both sides of a stroke, the heavier styles would look much wider than the lighter styles. 2/2Permalink On twitter.com
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There is never enough of weight variations! This time note that the Display spans a wider range. It goes from Thin to Black. Such extremes would not work for Text which is intended for smaller sizes. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_p @drawbotappPermalink On twitter.com
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And here is more p!Permalink On twitter.com
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The letter “Q” looks like an “O” with a tail, but is it?! In the heavier weights it is often necessary to make the “O” shape a bit lighter to account for the extra black (here in white) of the crossing tail. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_qPermalink On twitter.com
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One might easily assume that the small letter “r” is just the left half of the “n” cut off. At a closer inspection, one might be proven wrong. To look solid and stable enough the right part of the “r” is often “beefed up”. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_rPermalink On twitter.com
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See how the terminals change from Text to Display in the letter “S”? We thought Text benefits from the tilted ones, they seem easier to recognise and keep the forms open, and Display gets more kick from an alignment. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_sPermalink On twitter.com
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Letter spacing in digital fonts is a combination of fitting and kerning. Fitting, illustrated here with vertical lines, simply describes left and right clearances of each letter (the measures are called sidebearings). 1/4 @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_tPermalink On twitter.com
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The comparison between Adapter Display Thin (in white) and Black (in yellow, hatched) and their respective sidebearings for the letter “t” shows how little the width of this letter (the distances between the left and right lines) increases from Thin to Black. 2/4Permalink On twitter.com
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This is intentional. The spaces within letters are getting smaller as the weight increases (see for example posts for “n” or “p”). Therefore, to achieve a balanced rhythm, the spaces around the letters have to get smaller too. 3/4Permalink On twitter.com
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The overall spacing based on fitting only is rarely perfect. This is where kerning (not illustrated here) comes in. It specifies *distance corrections* for specific pairs of letters. In strings like “VLTAVA”, the space between the pairs “AV”, “LT”, … might require reduction. 4/4Permalink On twitter.com
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This one is basic and short. Beginners often draw the letter “U” as two straight verticals and half a circle in the bottom. This illustration shows that in contemporary sans serifs this is rarely the case. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_uPermalink On twitter.com
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Another distinction between Adapter Text and Display is in their treatment of apices. In Text, the diagonals are further apart allowing more light to “get in”, while in Display they are closer to remain sleek and sharp. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_vPermalink On twitter.com
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The counters in the letter “W” can be a challenging fun. Usually, the top two would be near identical and the bottom one smaller, but in the Adapter Display Thin they ended up looking the same. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_wPermalink On twitter.com
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Designing the letter “x” across a wide range of weights poses an interesting problem. In the lighter weights, the “x” tends to look as two diagonals crossing in the middle, while in the heavier weights, it starts to look as two chevrons pointing towards each other. 1/2Permalink On twitter.com
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Notably, each of these conceptualizations requires different visual compensations to make it look just right. The questions is how to design a set of points that interpolate continuously and represent both. 2/2 @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36days_x #36daysoftype06Permalink On twitter.com
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A simple illustration showing that the letter “Y” is not a half “V” and half “I” although it is intended to look that way. @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_yPermalink On twitter.com
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And everything together in the letter “z”! This is the last one in the type trivia series as we will do something else for the numerals. 1/4 @36daysoftype #36daysoftype #36daysoftype06 #36days_zOn twitter.com
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There are a few points I would like to make by way of a disclaimer. Firstly, each letter includes several of these challenges at the same time. Letter-design process becomes a complex puzzle-solving exercise full of compromise. 2/4Permalink On twitter.com
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Thus one might be following one “rule” (or shall we call it an advice?) in one letter and breaking it in another. The eye becomes the ultimate judge, not a geometric measurement. 3/4Permalink On twitter.com
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Secondly, seeing individual, isolated letters one might be lead to ignore the biggest challenge in typeface design which is to design a coherent collection of letter shapes. And the way this coherence is specified can be a great source of originality in typeface design. 4/4Permalink On twitter.com
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