TypeTool is fine. Consider it as Studio light. Its advantage is that it allows you to concentrate on designing. And it generates OT fonts. Should you really need to add OT features, use the free AFDKO. But do not try to do everything at once. One step after the other. It is perhaps a bit early for a 'time gain' question.

You might consider getting ScanFont or Scanahand (Windows only), allowing you to start from your own hand-made input rather than playing with outlines alone.

I already have scanfont, but I prefer to copy my sketches by eye in TypeTool. I have had a look at the AFDKO, but it seems a bit to complicated for me. It doesn't even have a normal installation. Thanks for your comment.

If you design your f properly, you won't need ligatures at all. Ligatures are often just an affectation that impairs reading. Consider scaling back the scope of your project. You're lacking a decent kerning assistant or kerning classes. It's some thing you can overcome but to kern a family or 32 would be too much. Don't think you need to release a font all at once. You can start with 1-4 weights then expand the family later when your software/skills improve.

I believe your right about the f, but here's the problem. With to many fonts on the market many designers don't look at a font if it doesn't have ligatures or less than 5 weights. I said "I could easily pass the 1000 glyphs if I wished to", which I don't. Don't you think it's worth to be called a typefamily if it has 'only' four weights? I don't think I'll ever make more than four weights (8 styles). To be honest I'm getting sick of this competition to make as many weights as possible. Four weights is MORE THAN ENOUGH! I think I'm going to start a new topic against this madness. Anybody with me?

A gazillion weights never impressed me much, either :) I'm sure there are more of us. I suggest you focus on the needs of your design projects, rather than what might sell.

A font with 2 weights is a family. It's not a competition and the number of weights doesn't necessarily add up to more sales. Of my current best sellers, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12 and 18 are single weights. Consider leaning toward display fonts while you're still learning. You'll have more creative freedom and you might need 1 or 2 weights, plus they're more fun to make. Above all: test print, make notes, fix, repeat. That's the part that most beginners miss and it's the most important thing.

Why so many weights? Someday when you blend a black to an ultralight in Fontlab or whatever, you'll feel a little rush and you'll understand: it's an addiction.

Maybe it's easier in fontlab, but I find making more weights a long and quite job. "The number of weights doesn't necessarily add up to more sales." True, but I've heard of graphic designers that look how much megabyte a font is before even having a look. How stupid is that?! "It's not a competition" True, but some typedesigners try to make it a competition. "Above all: test print, make notes, fix, repeat. That's the part that most beginners miss and it's the most important thing." True. I've made two very ugly fonts before where I skipped the repeat part, but I've learned my lesson now. I've spend my holiday in Turkey without a laptop, making adjustments to some prints and sketching a new typeface idea. Two years ago I would have never done that.

Thank you both for your help.

I'm fourteen years old and I'm designing typefaces in TypeTool (You might have seen my expletus in the critique forum). Everywhere I look on Typophile I see Fontlab Studio, never TypeTool.

Most older designers are used to vector drawing in software that does a lot more, so making the shift to something as simple as TypeTool. But if you’re fourteen and all you want to do is draw letters and TypeTool makes you happy, stick with it.

As for the weights issue, it has never "impressed" me, nor have I decided on a face, simply because it had a wide range of weights. It simply makes the face more versatile and applicable by a designer. This is why faces such as Helvetica and Univers are so ubiquitous: the family is expansive and cohesive, therefore it's easier to implement them harmoniously across an entire project/application.

Hey Jasper, good work, I wish I'd started this kind of thing when I was 14, I'd be a lot further ahead now. 10 years is a long time in which to get things done.

You'll be fine in TypeTool for a while, getting your spacing and your outlines sorted. I purchased FontLab but as a novice I only use it in a very rudimentary fashion anyway, I'm pretty sure I am not using very many of the features. All in good time.

Expletus looks interesting.

Regarding very large families, I probably wouldn't purchase large families, but I can imagine buying a couple of weights at any given moment and this combination changing for different jobs, so I guess I appreciate the options.

thanks