Fontstructing since | 6th April, 2008 |
Fontstructions | 184 shared, 143 staff picks |
Shared Glyphs | 14630 |
Downloads | 21511 downloads made of this designer’s work |
Comments Made | 2246 |
Quarantine 2020 allowed for this fontstruction to be born as it provided forced free time.
I'm sure it's true for everyone who designs fonts, there were lots of artistic decisions made in the creation process. Some letters went through a lot of iterations to arrive at their current state. Almost the entire uppercase were designed one way, scrapped and then redesigned this way.
The future is screen. Super high-resolution screen. Resolution so high that it is indistinguishible from printed text. 4K screens are available on mobile devices now. The future is resolution independent then.
~Type an uppercase letter and type the corresponding (or some other) lowercase letter to fill in the shape.
You can use the uppercase letters to form one word and type the lowercase fill letters to form the same or another word, or fill with a blanking glyph to complete the letter with no center letter. So, two types of letters are possible with this one font.
The letters had to be designed such that the uppercase could read as a letter without a center fill on it's own, or filled with blank glyph, or with a center letter. In doing so, the font turned auto-stencil and auto-monospaced. Also, since the unfilled uppercase read as the correct letter with the hole in it, this fs can be said to have three fonts in it.
The gaps are 1/8 brick; the thickness of the inner letter strokes is 2/8 brick. Therefore, this limitation meant that the glyphs with a stroke in the horizontal center can either be lined up with the left side blocks or the right side one. Therefore, 3/8 brick thickness I and T are provided on { and }.
Letter couples are as follows: Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii or I{ Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt or T} Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
Number couples are: !1 @2 #3 $4 %5 ^6 &7 *8 (9 )0
Blanks: ~, space
Center blank: `
Pipe: = (which will offset the monospacing)
Others; ? is at ?/ ! is at |\
Punctuations are where they are supposed to be: . , ; : ' " ’ ” ‘ “ -
Sample: Type the following in User Input to see the font as it is supposed to be: A`AaB`BbC`CcD`DdE`EeF`FfG`GgH`HhI`IiI{J`JjK`KkL`LlM`MmN`NnO`OoP`PpQ`QqR`RrS`SsT`TtT}U`UuV`VvW`WwX`XxY`YyZ`Zz!`!1@`@2#`#3$`$4%`%5^`^6&`&7*`*8(`(9)`)0?`?/|`|\)-)+~_<>=
6 bricks tall.
The sample is a font pun: TWO in ONE.
PS: Not sure how future it is.
Constructed on the bones of fs minimal.
This font and tm Nibble started off as one. Both were different from what they have now become. The idea was to create a very heavy, minimal curves and angles to give a sense of the glyph.
It started with a plain N and a solid O. Making the E match either the N or the O resulted in deviation from the style just enough that it warranted a spin-off into a font of it's own.
Some letters—such as G and H—proved quite difficult to match in the style of either. A slight angle shift resulted in a glyph that did not go with other glyphs. I kept trying different possibilities...and at some point decided to save the discarded option into another fs, which now contains more than 200 characters.
The teardrop counter in tm Byte forced a complete redraw of all glyphs at about 2× the size.
I am already working on two additional fonts that came out of this exercise...and it might yield more.
This font and tm Byte started off as one. Both were different from what they have now become. The idea was to create a very heavy, minimal curves and angles to give a sense of the glyph.
It started with a plain N and a solid O. Making the E match either the N or the O resulted in deviation from the style just enough that it warranted a spin-off into a font of it's own.
Some letters—such as G and H—proved quite difficult to match in the style of either. A slight angle shift resulted in a glyph that did not go with other glyphs. I kept trying different possibilities...and at some point decided to save the discarded option into another fs, which now contains more than 200 characters.
The teardrop counter in tm Byte forced a complete redraw of all glyphs at about 2× the size.
I am already working on two additional fonts that came out of this exercise...and it might yield more.
This font started offline. It wasn't even supposed to be a font. I was just showing some students the value of a grid, even as tiny as 5×5 and the thousands of possibilities it generates. It led to making an 'a'. Of course, once that exercise was over, I had to continue making other letters. It's a compulsion. Sorry. The offline idea was slightly different. Compromises had to be made due to the limitation in place by the bricks available.
Make the letters any width desired.
Type the uppercase letter for the left half of the letter, type an extender (or not), then type the same lowercase letter for the right half of the letter. The more extenders are inserted between the left and the right halves, the wider the letter becomes.
I and T are the exceptions where the extenders are typed before and after the left and right halves and not inbetween.
The other exceptions are M and W which have been split into 3 and extenders are added between the left, middle and right thirds.
? is split between ? and /
Extenders are located at @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) and _
How to extend:
A@@a, B##b, C$$c, D$$d, E##e, F%%f, G$$g, H^^h, &&Ii&&, J**j or J**$$j, K^^k, L**l, M(({((m, N((n, O$$o, P@@p, Q$$q, R%%r, S##s, (((Tt))), U**u, V**v, W**}**w, X^^x, Y^^y, Z__z, ?@@/
Ten years ago, a StumbleUpon Fontstruct on April 8, 2008 has been one of the highlights of my life. Few things have provided so much joy and fewer things have kept my interest for so long. Type design has always been a fascination for me and the simplicity of the UI/UX of fontstruct has allowed me to explore all that I can imagine without getting in the way while letting me do as I please for the most part. In times of creativity, fontstruct was there to let it flow, and in times of personal lows, fontstruct was there to allow me to ignore that which was beyond my control. Furthermore, the overall civility and helpful nature of the fontstruct community is still one of the best on the internet. I have been using the fontstruct website almost daily for 10 years now and rarely do I not see something new that is amazing and awe inspiring. The creativity of the designers past and present is incredible.
I wish to thank FontShop for sponsoring fontstruct for so long allowing it to grow. Most importantly, I wish to thank Mr. Meek for creating and constantly enhancing this incredible gift of creativity and a calming haven for over-active minds.
Thank you.
Thank you for this incredible gift that is fontstruct, Rob. Always a joy.
Congratulation on achieving the first ten years today (April 1, 2018).
Best wishes, as ever.
This is a clone of tm FestDeceptively simple.
This fontstruction was made possible by several fontstruct special capabilities: connecting brick, brick stacks, custom bricks, and nudge. Out of 68 bricks used, only the full square brick is from the available bricks; the remaining 67 bricks are all modified in some way or another.
3 bricks tall.
from the category of 'also ran'
Only interesting in theory; the practical application leaves a lot to be desired. Incomplete as well. Only sharing now because vacations are over. Back to work from tomorrow moring. Won't really have time to work on this in any meaningful way anymore. Unless inspiration strikes out of somewhere and I am able to stay awake past my bedtime.
Every glyph has a counter rotated glyph or has self rotational symmetry—all except the c, which remains a loner loser.
paired rotational glyphs: ae bq dp ft hy jr mw nu G9 JR NV 25
self rotational symmetric glyphs: g i k l o s x z Q S Z ! & , '
Full disclosure: This fs was started before there was such a thing as Reverse competition.
Side story on the making: This fontstruction is deceptively simple. It was quite a challenge to execute. Just because the strokes seem flowing doesn't mean they are all placed in the logical grid block. The rounded-off ends forced the bricks to be placed in any of the 8 adjoining blocks and nudged into place. Consequently, due to the nature of nudge only moving as much as half a block in any direction, some compromises had to be made in the shapes.
Out of 111 bricks used, only ten are from existing bricks; all the rest are custom bricks. There would have been a lot more bricks if most weren't rotated or flipped.
3 bricks tall.
I've been wanting to do this kind of font for ages, think of it as a soft square or a hard circle. Since it's been so long, I can't really remember the exact source of inspiration, but I do remember it had something to do with kix and his work.
The ability to kern now has obviously made the spacing better than it would have been otherwise. Thanks, Rob.
While waiting at a doctor's office, absentmindedly drawing letters on my knee with a new pen in my hand, I realized after I while that I was doodling the glyphs of fs_penmanship, although with curved ends. Which got me thinking that it just might be possible with the new and improved HTML fontstructor.
This is the second version of that idea. The first version had too many compromises in lining up the stacked and nudged bricks. Be that as it may, the new fontstuctor has grown up so much and although quite recognizable compared to the original, but level 1000 in possibilities, all hidden behind a simple interface. Brilliant.
PS, Rob: I found two things that need further updating: 1. Because of the way 4×4 stacks work, nudges need to be in increments of 8th as opposed to the 4th that is currently the case, otherwise, some of the bricks just don't line up. 2. Bricks should be rotatable from the center of the grid box in increments of 15° (or at least 45°).
This is a cloneApparently, it is quite easy to forget what gets a fontstruction going. Something about ultra condensed bla bla bla. The rest is just a matter of having a creative activity to occupy the mind. And if in the process you can help out a friend, all the better.