Scribd
Upload
110 views4 pages

Typedevelopment

The document describes the process of designing an original typeface. It involved researching ethical type design, brainstorming ideas, drafting letters, scanning and cleaning them up digitally, and creating a font file. Key steps included drawing letters at a large scale, tracing them in Illustrator, scaling and kerning in FontLab, and exporting as a TrueType font. The typeface was named Marylynn and has specific guidelines regarding serifs, stroke widths, and baselines.

Uploaded by

WelgravenImage
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
110 views4 pages

Typedevelopment

The document describes the process of designing an original typeface. It involved researching ethical type design, brainstorming ideas, drafting letters, scanning and cleaning them up digitally, and creating a font file. Key steps included drawing letters at a large scale, tracing them in Illustrator, scaling and kerning in FontLab, and exporting as a TrueType font. The typeface was named Marylynn and has specific guidelines regarding serifs, stroke widths, and baselines.

Uploaded by

WelgravenImage
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

2

TypefaceDesign
purpose: The

purpose of Project 2 was to create an original typeface.


research:

I began by reading the Typeright Guide to Ethical Type Design (www.typeright.org/getd_print.html). This helped alert me to which characteristics bring legitimate originality to a typeface.

Brainstorming: Next, I began sketching some ideas for typefaces. Most were drawn with a drafting pen, but I also experimented with a Chinese paintbrush and gouache. The first set of sketches that I thought showed potential is below. However, after comparing it with existing fonts on www.whatthefont.com, I found that it was too similar.

TypefaceDesign
drafting the letterforms:

The other option (below) appeared to be a combination of Broadway and Didot, which seemed like a creative new approach. After comparing it with existing typefaces and finding nothing similar, I decided that this would be the basis for my original design.

I began drawing each letterform large-scale on grid paper. I knew that I wanted the typeface to be a display style, which allowed me to include some finer detail that would have been lost at small sizes. I also decided to stick with uppercase only. Since my typeface was very geometric and precise, I needed to use a curve, straight edge and ruler. In the end, I drew 12 letters, which I would build off of to form the 26 letters in the alphabet.

TypefaceDesign
I then brought the digital letters into Illustrator and began tracing them with the pen tool. I used two layers for this, the bottom (locked) containing the scanned letters and the top where I drew the outlines. I was able to use some elements (such as the baseline serifs) multiple times as a starting point, which made the process a little easier. I also tried to smooth the strokes as much as possible, using only essential anchor points.

Converting to a digital format: Once the hard copies were completed, I began scanning the letters into Photoshop and cleaning them up.

TypefaceDesign

Creating a font: Once the alphabet was complete, I brought it into a demo version of FontLab. Each letter was then individually scaled, optimized and kerned. When these steps were finished, I exported my alphabet as a TrueType font.

I named my typeface Marylynn (pronounced MAREuhlin) because it seemed reminiscent of early 1920s Broadway. It is expressive, yet rigid; funky, yet built on guidelines (see below). It is one of a kind
M arylynn guidelines: 1) All heavy strokes have a bracketed serif at the baseline and a hairline serif at the opposite end. 2) All medium and hairline strokes end in hairline serifs. 3) There are three stroke widths in each letter. 4) In all cases except Z, the first stroke is the heaviest. 5) In most cases, the intersection of stroke widths is abrupt, in keeping with the overall linear structure. 6) In most cases, each letter will have two separate baselines.

You might also like