A very good book:
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/izdal/kniga_pro_bykvy/

hhp

The book Hrant mentioned is indeed an excellent book. The only drawback is that it is written in Russian. As far as I know, there are no translations offered in Spanish or English

I have the book but cannot read Russian--it is sill quite good because the illustrations are very good on their own.

http://www.amazon.com/Language-Culture-Type-International-Unicode/dp/193...
Very good in that it has lots of typeface specimens.

Other than that, just study Cyrillic fonts and documents and come to your own conclusions.

And be doomed to either: mimic precedent; or produce caricatures...

There is no substitute for nativity, which is best borrowed from kind and
qualified colleagues, since acquiring it one's self is typically too taxing.

hhp

My design philosophy is not so script-specific.

With the exception of a weekend TDC seminar with Maxim Zhukov, I have generally avoided other people's advice*, whether working in my native Latin script or Cyrillic and Greek.

The results in Cyrillic mimic precedent (Scotch Modern, which I prefer to think of as authentic revival), are indeed caricatures (Fontesque, which is a caricature in its native Latin), or have some degree of originality (Figgins Sans). It has more to do with being true to the qualities and principles of the typeface than native exposure to the script.

*For retail fonts, that is—on commissions, the client calls the shots.

> My design philosophy is not so script-specific.

Actually, it's not at all script-specific.
However proper typeface design cannot look only to style formalisms.

Sorry old chap, I caught the following before you edited it:
> I generally ignore other people's advice

That's the most useful statement you've ever made.

--

Useful originality in ignorance of nativity can only come from dumb luck.
Everybody gets lucky sometimes, but don't bet on somebody who relies on luck.

hhp

> I generally ignore other people's advice

…So it would be hypocritical of me to advise others to do the same?!

Needless to say the ultimate artiste does
anything he wants no matter what others need.

hhp

When asked what market research was done for the iPad, Steve Jobs said none, consumers don't know what they want.
Not much difference between leadership and self-indulgence.
With products, the marketplace decides; if it sells, then people want and need it.
The market has been kind to my whims, which is why I recommend that others do their own thing, rather than try to calculate or guess what people want and need.
The market is so large that if one follows one's interests, there are bound to be others of like mind.

However, the market for Cyrillic fonts is presently not very receptive to western-designed fonts.
I don't think that has anything to do with any alien "they don't get it" quality that such fonts might have, it's more to do with the difficulties that western foundries have in establishing their brand over there—as well as the issue of piracy in Cyrillic font markets.

But why would you listen to Steve Jobs's advice?

hhp

What he did, not his advice.
But even then, people are apt to copy results, rather than emulate a procedure—something which really pissed off Neville Brody, a strikingly original designer who would have preferred others to be the same, but so many just copied his style. But perhaps he is more flattered by now!

> people are apt to copy results, rather than emulate a procedure

That's one procedure I would be ashamed to emulate.

hhp

How would you phrase the distinction?