Typophile

Coales Black

Gary

Greetings all, and thank you for taking the time to review not only my first post to these forums but also my first sans/display face.

Some time ago I reproduced a World War I poster reminding Americans that electricity consumes coal. It was commissioned by the US Fuel Administration and drawn by Coles Phillips... http://garyritchie.com/txp/index.php?id=21

I drew the remaining capitals and numerals taking the best care that I follow the original style. The & looks awkward to me and the @ is awful.

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pr-CoalesBlack.pdf31.94 KB
glr_ty4_sam_CoalesBlack_v05.pdf5.96 KB
Dan Reynolds

I think that the ampersand is OK. But the numbers don't work. I think that you have to completely redo them, even if that means sacrificing historical accuracy. Make them feel right, and you'll have a good piece of work.

Can you make a text setting with your letters? Its hard to judge the uppercase letters without some sort of combination.

Gary

Thanks for the feedback regarding the numerals, Dan. Historical accuracy isn't as important to me as having them look like part of the family. Or, as you say, "feel right."

This sample is rather embarrassing. It's painfully obvious I need to review my kerning table. I had not planned on lowercase characters.

Sample attached to first post.

ChuckGroth

hmm... I didn't find the numerals awful. The "1," "2," and "6" work pretty well for me, in fact. The "7" might work better with the lighter vertical and heavier horizontal. But I agree about the @ symbol... I'm not sure yet how you might fix that one...

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