Started this font on a whim on the phone while having my morning coffee. The first version of the uppercase letters was done in the time it took to finish drinking it. Worked on it off and on during the day. Was done by evening. The sample probably took longer than the making of the font.
Thanks, fontstruct.
~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.
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.
The design process is typical in its atypicality (yes, it is a word, or, at least, should be!).
The atypicality necessitates the telling of the story behind it.
Looking for something to do...something easy to do, I came across the font shown 5th from the top in this article on Dieline. "I can do this," thought I. I did a 2 that looked similar. Based on that, did the 3. 5 6 9. 0 8. 1 7. "Hmm." Add the horizontal stripes. 7. 4? "No." Re-4? "No. Another 4? Perhaps thinner sides?" "Even thinner." "Hmm." Redo 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9. "Maybe this is better. OK, lets do the letters." Start with Z because it is almost a 2 with minor curve tweak. Do the S. B because 3 is done. A. V. C. E. F L. J. Etc.
The glyphs so far have a 3 horizontal band appearance. Do the lowercase. a is two bands. b is two bands...but how high should the ascender be? Also, the x-height seems wrong. Off somehow. "Can I do a 2 band uppercase with the letter slightly taller. Maybe 2 bricks taller?"
Redo A. Redo B. "No this B is not working." Redo B. Redo B. Redo B. "Hmm. Maybe." Redo C D. Redo E F L. "OK, this might work." Redo to all uppercase letters.
Do the lowercase. "Yes I like the new f." Redo other letters to include the flip. Most of the letters are the same width. "Maybe I can make this a mono-space font." Redo m. Redo M. W. V. "The A looks odd." Redo A. And so on.
The font may have started as a simple thing but it is very different now. "I'll just publish it." "No, I should at least do the basic punctuations." "No this hyphen is too thick." Redo. "Now it is too thin." Redo. "Now it is too wide. But this is mono-space font. The width cannot be altered." +. "That just looks weird." Redo +. Now the - looks off. Redo -. Now they both don't fit with the rest of the font. Redo + -. "No. I'll come back to them." Do [. "No that's too heavy top and bottom." Redo [. Do (. "This needs a different curve." Redo (. "Can I use this new curve somewhere else?" Redo @. "Hmm." Do ©. Do ®. Do ™. Do “. "I can't make this so wide." Do ‘. "Definately cannot make it mono-space." Redo all punctuation to be their natural width. "This is no longer a mono-space font. Should I redo M m W w to be more natural?" Redo do m. "No this is too much work. I can't be bothered anymore. Let the m's and w's be."
"The punctuation looks niiice. Should I do a font to match these?"
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Topo was originally inspired by the theme Filthy. The idea of compact lines came from looking at the shapes chewed into chewing gum pieces which are wrongly discarded on the floor. Using topographic maps I created the lines for each letter respectively hence the naming of the font.