Hi Tim,

If you're going for something that can be set in small text and retain high readability, there are several things about this font that are inconsistant and would hinder that ability.

I'm usually not as critical with a new font designer and good job for getting the face this far. But, since you've specified that you want to make this more of a text face, there are many issues with the font that I'd like to enlighten you with so can learn why my critique comes off so picky.

The major concern that is apparent to me is the inconsistant letter width's in this font. Type out d,o,g,b,e,p,and q and it'll be obivious what I'm talking about. Ideally they should be crafted from the same round to appear seamless.

Why doesn't the top of the body of the j come up to the x height?

The P and R are the only letters that wrap underneath themselves at the bowl of the letter.

Slanted Caps seem like part of another font, should be redesigned to participate in this font.

y,j,g,t,f each have their own unique hook as desender or ascender, they should all share same hook.

Top of 1 hangs too low. Seven hugs the left side too much. Tail on 4 broke? W needs to be wider on bottom. Why do Z and z have a serif? No other letters have one.

There is a process I call "Normalizing" letters in which you print every character you've drawn on an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet and study the letterforms. Are they consistant? Are their any oddballs? From there you'd go back in and tweak the letters until you don't notice any oddballs.

Also, open a copy of Tekton and study it to the teeth. While it's different, it is close to your font and would offer some visual guidance for you to follow. Things like the shape of the letters, why they set successfully in text blocks, etc . . .

I'm not sure if Chank has since critiqued your revised work, but I'd be happy to go over your font with you if you're interested in another opinion - I'm in Minneapolis also.

Stuart :D

thanks for the critique, none of these issues were mentioned before. anyone else have some juicy tidbits of info for me?

t1mmy

here's an update for whipple. i fixed the shapes of the letters so that they're more uniform now (just the lc).

My question is: should I perform the same process with the uc as well? the uc is looks fairly well proportioned, so that's why i'm curious. thanks!

dang it! that's the wrong image...sorry. let this be a lesson: don't put so much stuff in one area