Nice work, for the most part I do not care much for this type of design but I think you may have something good in the works.

The idea of a softened typewriter face is interesting. I would study Goudy's faces, including Goudy sans, as he was the master of the softer look without getting overly cute.

I think the stem of the m, n should rise higher, and the i j be taller. They looked squashed below the x height.

Well, the typeface is now named - I decided to call it Babbage. Here are some samples of it in a more complete state, with the T and Z worked out.

Originally I had the stem on the m and n higher, but it disrupted the flow of the words when reading it, it seemed too jarring, hence the lower version that you now see. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Babbage - a more finished version of the typeface babbage.swf (10.3 k)

Set very poorly in a paragraph ipsum.swf (6.4 k)

Corey - There's definitely room for more cute typefaces.

In the world of toys/cartoons, there's way too much Fontesque
and Countryhouse going on. Both are solid display faces
but get overused in these areas.

Can you show this a little bit bolder?

The only thing I could suggest is opening the curlicues (sp.)
on the Q, 2 and 3 a bit more.

If you want to go more cute, more curlicues.

bj

Speaking of cute...

there's Gypsy Switch (from Jukebox)
which is free if you sign up for an account with

Veer.com

Corey - If you ever decide to distribute some of your type,
Veer looks like a pretty good place.


bj

bj,

Thanks! I am currently working on a bolder version of the face, I'll post as more develops. When you speak of opening the curlicues, do you suggest that I end it earlier, or that the circle is not so tight?

I desperately want to distribute my typefaces, but I fear I need to get more done with them. Most have a full character set, but very few have alternate weights.

Corey,

I'm sorry I never managed to follow up on this thread back in June. Tardiness aside, I'd like to encourage to follow bj's advice and chat with us folks at Veer about distributing your faces. I am really digging the friendliness and quirkiness of Babbage. Can't wait to see the bold weight. Any plans to tackle an italic version? You could do a lot with those undulating horizontal elements combined with the slight diagonals of an italic.

Anyway, contact me if you're at all interested in chatting further.

This is an attractive font, and the curliques are similar to handwriting, which personalizes the font, yet it is readable.

The typeface has been reworked quite a bit and should be available to buy on Veer by this weekend.