Sorry for the oversized picture. Here's a smaller version, and some more demo material.

Awesome!

Indeed - a superb launch!

hhp

what does one do to promote a new font

If you're not already on twitter, sign up quickly. Announce the font release there, saying it's on offer. Something like "Octant released @MyFonts 51% off for a limited time." And link to it. MyFonts might retweet you, and they have loads of followers. You could even ask them to announce you to Twitter. I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

Thanks guys, much appreciated. :)

Do you have any suggestions on how to further promote the font? I'm new to the business, as you know...

EDIT: Just saw your reply, Dave. Interesting suggestion! I'm not on Twitter myself (it's really not my kind of thing) — but perhaps I should open a Twitter account for my foundry? I need to do some research... Oh, and it sounds like those MyFonts tweets might be interesting to follow...

Indeed, Twitter has become a necessary evil. Same with Facebook.

hhp

Alright, @CatharsisFonts is on Twitter... I'm on facebook already, but I don't know that many people. ;o)

Asking MyFonts to retweet me: That sounds great... should I send them an e-mail about it...?

First tweet is out. :)

...and the first thing I read is someone doubting the originality of Octant. Sheesh! That's why I don't like social media. :P

Do they mean that it's sort of based on Garamond?
They're probably just jealous.

hhp

Nevermind, Christian! It’s an interesting addition to Garamond and i see its potential on being used on book jackets.
And some German type designers will love it for your cap Eszett :-)
You’ve got a new follower, too …

Jürgen

Octant is only "based on Garamond" inasmuch as all humanist serif fonts are based on Garamond.

@ Jürgen: Thanks! As a Swiss native, I used to make fun of the ß, and of course never used it. Only since I design type have I learned to love it (in particular the capital one!). I'm probably the only Swiss person who uses it now. ;o)

all humanist serif fonts are based on Garamond.

Well, not all of them - but it's still a valid basis... and was itself based on precedents. Anybody who thinks a typeface can be 100% original is either not a type designer or a very arrogant type designer.

hhp

Why did you start with an old style (garalde), rather than a modern (didone)?

@ Nick: Because I'm a big fan of the garalde style. I'm afraid I'm not yet seasoned enough a type designer to have a deeper answer than that. ;o)

That’s good enough for me!

This is very fine indeed.

Christian,
Octant is *fantastic*!!
:CONGRATULATIONS:

This is a lot of fun. Thanks! I expect to soon see this in use for logos and/or titling in steampunk RPGs and computer games.

Thanks for the kind words!

@ Thomas: I'd love to see Octant on the cover of a book or game at some point! But steampunk is an awfully narrow genre; I'm wondering whether I dug myself into a hole by marketing Octant as such... For instance, I could well see it on the cover of a crime/thriller/suspense novel, a bit like FF Disturbance was used for Schätzing's Der Schwarm.

Think there's a way one could increase the exposure of people in the print industry to the existence of Octant...?

By the way, my admin page says:
Starlets Rank: 51
HotNewFonts Rank: 68
Am I correct in assuming that once the HotNewFonts Rank drops below 50, it'll appear on the Hot New Fonts webpage and periodically show up as a flag on the MyFonts homepage?

It's not called a hole, it's called a niche. And niches rule.

hhp

I agree with Hrant. Being unique is good.

Well, I don't know about how useful for books, but it is fun.

I posted the MyFonts link to the Association of American University Press design group list. Someone might get a good idea to use it for a jacket...

Awesome, thanks for the publicity. :)

Very nice.
What’s the difference between Octant regular and Octant Ligatures?

In Octant, only the f_* ligatures, Q_u, and T_h are encoded in LIGA (standard ligatures), whereas the rest are in DLIG (discretionary ligatures). Typographically unsavvy applications such as PowerPoint typically have LIGA enabled but DLIG disabled, and no option to change that. In Octant Ligatures, all ligatures are encoded in LIGA, so they will work in PowerPoint. You can switch them on and off by switching between the two font versions.

Great font, Keep it up !

"encoded in LIGA"

In one way of looking at it, this is a perfectly logical phrase. But it is easily confused with "encoded" as in "having a codepoint assigned to the glyph." So for clarity I think one might want to use a different verb there, or just leave out that word entirely.

In any case, thanks for clarifying, as I was wondering the exact same thing. :)

Octant is now on Bēhance! Any Appreciation would be most appreciated. :)

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Octant-a-steampunk-serif-font/7252231

Hmm. Well, I'll appreciate it buy going into work tomorrow and buying it. Don't currently have a use, but if it's ever even in consideration, it'll quickly move to *perfect.* Just that kind of font; they're pretty rare.

EDIT:

Done.

Awesome! Much appreciated. I sure hope it will come in handy for you. :)

About your marketing blurb, “While Octant shines in display roles, it also performs well in short texts such as poetry or block quotes.” — I don’t think you should be embarrassed that it (only) shines in display. That’s more than good enough :)

Anyway: Congratulations!

Yay, Octant just made Hot New Font on MyFonts! :D

@Frode: There's no "only" in my blurb, and I certainly don't mean to imply it. ;o)

How awesome is that? The branding agency OVO is using Octant for their glorious logo of the Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes:

http://www.brandsbyovo.com/branding-example/the-international-exhibition...

And they've been real clever at it, too. They made up those two ligatures, and used glyphs from the extended character set (Ħ, Ł) for further embellishment.

Thanks to Hrant for the link!

Great usage. You might want to upload it to fontsinuse.com

OVO does have good taste.
They've bought fonts from me too. :-)

hhp

Yes, the ligatures enabled the two words to stack fairly tidily, while adding a custom look.
Nice.

BTW the guy's name is Kyle Hildebrant.
http://typophile.com/node/16927

I haven't been in direct contact with him in almost seven years, but this is a good excuse to ping him...

hhp

The Link to the exhibition runs dead, I guess they (re)moved it?

Huh, it was fine yesterday.
Anyway Kyle said he'll pop in soon, and hopefully he'll fix the link too.

hhp

SIERLOCK HOLMES?