Typophile

† Catacombs's letters †

rui abreu0 votes

Hello,

I have been working on a display font based on the inscriptions I've seen on the catacombs of a church here in Porto Portugal, the "Igreja de São Francisco". These are painted grave inscriptions. In was interested in them because, even though they are clearly based on victorian leters, I think they may have something of portuguese (like the "A" or the "R"), or at least a unic interpretation of, may be, british influences which can be seen, for instance, in older stores, in Porto. I would like ask for your opinions on this. What do you think about these letters? Can you relate these forms to other alphabeths from the early 20th century?

Thanks in advanced:)

Here is a pdf file:

Bob Evans0 votes

No pdf - no link

dstype0 votes

Can you put a picture?
You can also send me a personal email and we can talk about type. In portuguese, of course.

Dino

rui abreu0 votes

Sorry, must have forgoten to upload the file.

I have uploaded it.

thanks

glyphobet0 votes

Wow, these are both awesome!

Catacumba One: I really like the swooping horizontal stroke-serifs of the T, E, L, Z, etc. And does Portuguese really use MB, MP, TE, HE, TU, TT ligatures? Wild. The only thing I don't like is the foot of the R -- it seems like an accident. I want it to go more horizontal at the end, or go from narrow to wide, maybe like the diagonal in the 4.

Catacumba Two: I think the E and F are too narrow, and the H is too wide -- it looks like it's two letters stuck together. The tail on the R is great -- looks like a dangerous fishook. The tail on the 6 and the 9 don't match the rest of the font -- they are too geometric. Maybe make the two forked ends go in separate directions, or use a tail like that on the R. And the serifs on the 2, 3, and 7 should look like the serifs on the T.

Oh, and I want to see what a lowercase would look like.

Overall, this looks really great!

Hrant H Papazian0 votes

I think this can be valuable thanks to the integration of the decorative cut, letting people mix the two creatively. Make the two fonts uniwidth (each character having exactly the same set-width in each font) for extra usefulness.

> Can you relate these forms to other alphabeths from the early 20th century?

Yes, I saw De Vinne in it (even before reading your mention of a timeframe).

hhp

rui abreu0 votes

Sorry Matt but the ligatures were my idea, to make the font more fun to use. The original grave inscriptions doens't have any ligatures (I think) although I have seen ligatures in stone inscriptions.
I know the foot of the R is very strange, it's a litle uncomfortable perhaps, but it caught my eye since the first time I saw it, I don't know where it came from. Thanks for your comments they will be very helpfull.
About the font's width, I suppose I'll have to something about it, because my idea was to make two mixable fonts, and the uniforming the widths woud help.

henrypijames0 votes

Catacumba 2: "M" and "P" seem to be falling over to the right. The foot of "K" might look better if it's more coherent with "R".

ebensorkin0 votes

The foms are pretty sweet already. I agree with Hrant that making the forms such that they can lay over the top of each other might be nice. My main critique is that the kerning isn't right yet.

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