Typophile

Sans Companion

aquatoad

Here is the beginnings of a sans family designed for the possibility of use with my recent serif project. In many ways it is unrelated though. It isn't just a version with the serifs ripped off. The x-height is the same, cap height the same, asscenders shorter, decenders slightly shorter. The forms are a complete redraw.

The thing I especially like about this sans as a stand alone project is the black weight. It developes a playful brushy quality that is evident, but only hinted at in the regular weight. It is that quality I'm hoping will differentiate this offering. Some of the black glyphs were inspired by a collaborative project between Kyle Johnston and I that is now growing cobwebs.

I am not even through the lower case yet, so there is a long road ahead. Before embarking, I wanted to get your impressions.






Cheers,
Randy

Hrant H Papazian

Pretty nice. The only negative I see is the slight backslant. You might nudge the forms half a degree forward to counter it.

Also, I'd do the weight distribution differently: make the Bold slightly darker, make the Heavy between the burrent Heavy and Black, and go even blacker with the Black.

BTW, I think you might increase the "dance" in the lighter weights as well - otherwise this might end up as a "me too" design.

hhp

odafonts

In my humble but subjective opinion for this type in concrete:

- I see too much inequality between the height of the lc-L with respect to the lc-T
- Also I see something strange in the ties of the lc-R


ODA
(sorry for my english)
powered by google translation

aquatoad

These are two efforts to make the regular more painterly. Unfortunatly I like neither as well as the original. Grrr. Will keep sketching. Meanwhile, I'll finish the lower case to get the sense of it in text.

Hrant H Papazian

Yes, I like the honesty of the original's terminals more. The key might be to introduce irregularity instead of "formal movement" - a tricky thing for sure.

hhp

eomine

Very nice, Randy.
IMO the original version is better too.

The 'r' is good, maybe just a bit too wide. The flaring concept is nice (interestingly, I've been playing with something similar). I like the softness in your regular version, I don't think you need it to be softer (maybe in a display alternate version, as Tiffany suggested).

William Berkson

You might compare your ideas to goudy sans and to Fritz of Christian Schwartz. They also have soft, minimal serifs.

Tiffany Wardle

I could see using this as secondary to Underware's Sauna. Sort of a sans version ... sort of.

Should you go too playful? Your "revise 1" strikes me as too soft. Perhaps you could create the soft variants as an alternate font?

I agree that it does appear to be slanting to the left a bit.

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