Typophile

Barrio: work in progress

Ricardo Cordoba0 votes

Hi, everybody. A few weeks ago I started working on this new typeface, inspired by the H in an album cover designed by Non-Format (see the first image I've posted here, barrio_inspiration).

My font started out with open counters, which soon became slits. At that point, a friend of mine saw it (barrio_sample_02) and said, "You ought to call it Barrio!" I liked the name. Then I tried elongating the slits, thinking that they would make the characters easier to read, but another friend says the opposite has happened (barrio_sample_03). I can see that the long horizontal openings in s and c, for example, are not helping.

What do you think? And do you have any other comments? I've added some sketches, so that you can see some of my process.

Thanks in advance,
Ricardo

ebensorkin0 votes

Yes the pentrations on the s should be shorter. How do you think this will be used? Tell us why you are making it. That will help a lot when it comes to advice. With any font it's not about being 'better' in some general way - it's about achieving something specific. Ideally there would be a well thought out use that you have in mind. When a face like this shows up on Typophile it kinda tough to know what to say because the style is not in fashion right now. And because there are alot of typefaces which are similar. I was told the same thing more or less with my first typeface. But they had a point. You may well have the seed of something. But the way to get it to grow is to ask these questions: What's it for? Who would use it? Why would they pick it over other fonts like it? You can get there but this was just the 1st step. Keep going.

ill sans0 votes

The shorter slits are indeed better, but you might want to consider making them a bit wider for smaller uses. I like this kind of type, it's like "Baby Teeth: the next generation" ;-)
Love the sketches as well, it's always nice to see how things evolve.

ebensorkin0 votes

The letters with red shading seem the most novel to me what if you went that way? What about leaving the hand drawn feeling in?

Ricardo Cordoba0 votes

Thanks for your input, guys! I have some other, older font projects that are in various states of incompletion, :-D but this is the first one I've posted here to be critiqued.

Ill Sans, thanks for your flattering comparison. I think that Neubau and Non-Format have done a lot of great work in that regard already.

And Eben, I think that the drawing with the red shading is a whole different font. I like the idea of leaving the hand-drawn feeling in. And Ill, I agree that the slits should be wider for smaller sizes, although this typeface is meant for display, after all. ;-)

I'll try to post some more later on in the week, if I ever get a chance to sit down and draw some more, that is! It's end-of-year madness time at work.

ill sans0 votes

Cool links, Ricardo!
And I'll have to second Eben on the hand drawn feeling... It would be nice to make a scribbly version of the font as well.

Ricardo Cordoba0 votes

:-)

I should add Gusto, by Rian Hughes, to that list of "Baby Teeth - the next generation" fonts.

ill sans0 votes

That's the candy version of Baby Teeth ;-)

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