Form ~ writing - Font development.

We got together as a group to vector the uppercase of our font from the sketches we had all come up with separately so we could all have input as opposed to one of use sitting with the sketches and vectoring it themselves. Really interesting to see the font coming together digitally, and the little changes that were necessary from sketch to screen to make the font more coherent. Very much trial and error but a fascinating process all the same. (Big credit to Joe for his software wizardry)

Although we thought we were set on the curve being very subtle, this illustrates nicely the various stages it went through once digitized. From a much subtler curve on the left, to a curve very much derived from a tilda on the right, aesthetically much better.

Detail of the R, one of the more recognisable character from the typeface thus far, showing how the same curve from the 'A' has been incorporated into the character. 

This shows some of the very subtle changes we'd not really considered when sketching that we used to make the font work better digitally, The image on the right before and the left after. Showing very slight thickening of the leg and also change of angle to allow it to come a little further past the end of the curve of the bowl. Helps the character look a little less top heavy.

 An outline view of the letterforms above.

Incorporation of the curve into the 'E', the example on the left much closer to the original sketches with a very low bar. We felt aesthetically it worked better with the bar moved into the centre of the letter and allowed for the rest of the similar letter (F) to follow suit.

Outlines showing the strokes used and movement of the bar.

Same principle applied to the 'F'.

 

Much deliberation was had over the curve in the rounder letters, such as C,D,G,P,R etc as these would have to be the same for all characters to keep the font consistent and legible.

The image above shows nicely how the change of curvature was put into practice.  All of our individual sketches had fairly rounded characters much like the first 'G's above. However The development I think has much improved the letterform and when applied to all similar characters is much more fitting with the rest of the typeface.

Above is the working document as it was in progress, crossed out are the letterforms we had found alternatives to and were not using.

Above are some of the more curved characters previously mentioned. Think these work much better as a set even with the more angled and geometric characters in the face, the regimented nature of the way the curves are produced means they still work well. There's also subtle alterations to letters such as the curve on the terminal of the 'C' and similarly in joining the bowl of the 'Q' with the tail further push the idea of the curve whilst still retaining readability.

 First words in the font. Should it be called Grape sans?

Application of the curves to the other letterforms. Here, two of my personal favourites, think the 'J' is weighted really nicely and the subtleties of the 'G' such as the reflection of the curve of the crossbar in the terminal really work well.

One of the trickier characters, along with the W and S, due mainly to the size of the W and M. These had to break the 4 by 6 grid that we'd stuck to when sketching the letters as they would have just looked like condensed characters. The 'S' is just difficult...

The font as it is at the minute...very pleasing.