For a while I've been too scared to attempt anything other than a display font because text faces are a totally different kind of beast. Alas, working off of the open-ness of the Baskervilles I've looked at, I'm trying to design my first for-text typeface. It's intended to be used at around 9pt. So, to further demystify the inner workings and details that create a readable text face, can I get a crit on the lowercase glyphs I have so far?
I'd keep working on the top left of m/n/p/r and the bottom right of d/u. The r's ear could also be darker, I think.
The s is nicely balanced.
Thanks. For that serif of the characters you've mentioned, what do you think can be improved? Is it the weight? angle?
Something about the drawings seems off to me. I would try things like letting the u baseline serif dip under the baseline on its left side, and adjusting the the n/r top so the V-shaped counter's left side is more like | or \ than /.
By the way, you should make sure your bowls at their thickest are wider than your straight stems, in order to be optically balanced. (See how the vertical of d looks blacker than the left side of e?)
Thanks, will try that. As for the V shaped counters, making them lean like / was my superficial attempt at a creative flare. Is it too unnatural in that it would hinder legibility? Are there any typefaces that do that?
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