Typophile

Komradika

amv

http://www.alexvaranese.com/work/amv-Komradika_Test_1_3_2008.pdf

The idea for this one came to me the other day, and I immediately started skeching it out. I've put a couple days of work into this, playing with various ideas and trying to get a decent first stab at the alphabet done.

The idea is to create something that is LOOSELY inspired by Cyrillic, although I'm not being too dogmatic about what exactly that means. In some cases it's very blunt and obvious, and in others its more subtle (or non existent). Beyond that, I'm going for mostly squarish curves and decorating the terminals with one-sided wedge serifs.

I revel in the places were the glyph looks awkward, such as the lc k, uc R, and the goofy additions to the ascenders on uc b and d, and the rounded tail on the lc p. Ultimately, I want it to feel foriegn (to us Americans, that is), and slightly off-kilter.

Lastly, this is very much a display typeface for use in the context of posters and other abstract design projects. Legibility is a concern only to a certain extent; style is slightly more important in this case.

I'm not taking this one too seriously, so feedback is welcome but I'm not looking for anything in particular. I'm happy with the direction as it is.

glyphobet

This is great. I tend to dislike "Cyrillic-inspired" faces, so that's saying a lot, too. :)

It has exactly the effect you're going for: slightly disorienting with a subtle Cyrillic feel.

One tiny nitpick: the bevel where the h and the second curve of the m joins the rest of the letter is at a different angle and slightly larger than the rest of the bevels in the a,b,d,g,n,p,q,u.

I particularly like the K. Looks like a Ж.

The one thing I strongly dislike is the backwards N. While the rest of the font has the subtle feel of Cyrillic foreignness, the backwards N seems like a blunt gimmick that screams "It's Cyrillic, idiot!"

The backwards N also makes it hard to read for people who know Cyrillic; since И is an 'i' sound, I read "WHEN" as "WHEI" and then have to think, oh, yeah, this is just Cyrillic-inspired, so that's probably an N.

I'd like to see the numbers. I bet they will look cool. :)

The uppercase needs to be kerned. See "AT," "LY," "PA," "YO," "AG," "DA."

Overall, this is great, I can totally see choosing this font for a project.

amv

Great feedback, I really appreciate it. I pretty much agree with everything you pointed out:

1) Thanks for catching the notch on the lc h/m-- I knew there was going to be something inconsistent there.

2) You're definitely right about the N. I've been debating flipping it back and I agree that it betrays my attempt at being relatively non-gimmicky with the rest of the face.

3) Luckily, this cut of the font doesn't have any metrics yet.

Thanks again!

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