Uau Giovanni. Very nice, I like it.
Thanks for posting the sketch. Take care of the 's'!
Ain't interesting that Egyptians were using the symbol
of a sword to represent the 's' sound?
I think it worth pursuing, try to fill those letters
to have a better understanding of the white around.
Then you can take a trip to San Serriffe islands
and work on yo' tan upon Gill Sands beaches.

Best,
AS

Some very interesting glyphs you have for a starting point. I may be wrong, but I am guessing that you have been looking at a lot of fonts you really like (including Lux typographics/ Esquire magazines Crank8 font for the second "k". and perhaps work from UK's The Foundry as well. I am NOT suggesting that you should not use these as starting points, nor that the work is "copied" but I do think it it influenced and there is nothing wrong with that. Did you ( like I have done myself in the past) decided if only I could fit all these unusual tweaks into a single font it would be the "ultimate". Seems like a
great idea. Well be careful, for it become a very difficult task. Hrant gave me very good advice once, which was "be careful of glyph love". And by the way I really like the glyphs you have here regardless of where the ideas came from .
Is it worth persuing? Yes. Next step is unification. "o" is very cool but will not fit with rest. The more tweaks the less userbility.

>I am guessing that you have been looking at a lot of fonts you really like<

Well I haven't been looking at other fonts to be honest with you. I thought I could 'start from scratch' (if there is such a thing). But I must admit that at a subconscious level I was influenced. I had no idea of the similarities! But I do admit the second 'k' was seen in the Esquire magazine i subcribe too. I just love it. You're right about 'o' it does not fit, sometimes i get carried away. I will take your advice to heart about the tweaks on each glyph. Too much does hinder userbility. what do u think about the 'g' , 'b' and 'd' do they fit? I think they might be off. Thanks fror the critique you guys.

Any more suggestions, anyone?

IM

hey allesandro! is that poster you sent a picture of available for purchase somewhere? :-P

Is this sketch looks like something like Solex?

Solex

Well, this is a bit discouraging.
It's seems that the type i hoped would be somewhat original reminds people of other fonts. I honestly thought that not looking at other sources for inpiration might help in avoiding this kind of 'confusion' in terms giving my design it's own identity.

Well 'A' , to answer your question I guess they are some similarities to the fon't Solex, but i feel my design might be just different enough to 'stand out'.

To be honest with you I feel like I have this all wrong now. How does one design great typefaces that stand out and not look like everything else? Can such thing be accomplished? I hope there is someone out there with advice that can help me. I really feel like I have the potential for good type design ( I know this because of the love i have for the printed word and typography) and i don't want to give up on this!

Any advice
Ivan M

I don't think it looks like Solex at all, but the reason I for one hadn't commented is because it does in fact seem to be a "me too" design (even though I'm sure you didn't do that intentionally). This style is in the air, I guess. But what you have so far can still serve as a great starting point I think. Here's an idea: try adding stroke contrast - most such designs are monoline.

hhp

Hmmm, I see your point Hrant. Thanks for the uplifting comment. I guess if i just work on it some more It will hopfully evolve into something more 'original'. What exactly do you mean by adding more stroke contrast?

Thanks
Ivan M.

Stroke contrast: Difference in thickness among various letterform parts. Usually with the verticals thicker and the horizontals thinner - like in the typical text face.

hhp

Yeah I get what you're saying, I'll get to work on it right away. Hopefully I can show you something soon. By the way. Do you have any example of font i could look at that would help me? I would really appreciate if you can help me with this.

Thanks
Ivan

Jurgen Weltin's "Yellow" - but it's hard to locate.

hhp

I'm sure I can find it . Thanks a million.
BTW, is that the actual name of the font or do u mean the font Linotype Finnegan designed by the same designer.

Ivan M

No, Yellow and Finnegan are different fonts. The former is a custom design for the UK yellow pages, and the only place I know of to check it out is in the book "Language, Culture, Type". And of course the UK yellow pages! :-)

Here's a scan:
http://www.themicrofoundry.com/other/Yellow_scan.jpg
And here's a simple hi-fi rendering:
http://www.themicrofoundry.com/other/Yellow_bn.gif

Really quite a nice job.
If it inspires you, please do credit Jurgen, somewhere!

hhp

I don't have that book :-/ I was broken (now I am rich), but
it should be in 'The Art of Looking Sideways' by Alan Fletcher :
http://www.abookbargain.com/Author/Fletcher,%20Alan/36/
http://www.uom.gr/uompress/2nd_int_conference/Alan_Fletcher.html

Yo' Bevion (is dat the name?) looks fresh, cool.

Best,
AS

Wow, that is a beautiful font! Thank you very much Hrant for taking the time to help me. I'm sure this will inspire me in this project and others to come. And Jugern, wherever you are, THANK YOU!

IM

FYI, I just pointed Jürgen over here. :-)

hhp

Hello Ivan,
If this is any help to you:

http://typematters.net/TM_Yellow.html

Only web but you can see the letters enlarged. In the original prints you can only see them in 6.5 point.
Your sketches remind me of a design i tried after i did Yellow. I did not continue the work, because i wanted to make something new and the new designs reminded me too much of Yellow. But, go ahead. And, please, try that *o* with the contrasting diagonals. If you go from there and apply this principle to the other letters, something totally different will come out of it. Give it a try.

Best,
Jürgen Weltin

Thanks Jürgen! I had forgotten about your site.
Very nice of you to be so gracious about freely encouraging inspiration from your work; some designers act like they invented the alphabet.

BTW, welcome to Typophile, but just one thing, please: you might consider limiting the looping on your icon animation - it's hard to read with a bomb ticking in your parafovea... :->

hhp

Well, if i had invented the alphabet i would encourage inspiration even more :-)

I don't know if i

Thanks Jurgen, Thanks so much. I'm sure i will find lots of inspiration in your work. I'll studyit closely.

Hrant, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. BTW, I hope i don't fall among those who feel they have invented the alphabet.

IM