Samurai — Typophile archive

knowsurprises12 February 2003 · 15:39

Ok I'm brand new at this, and yes this is my first typeface ever. I know it's rough around the edges and needs work, but I've been looking at it for so long that I need other opinions now.

It's just a fun display type that I sketched in my sketchbook about a month ago. I don't know why it turned out the way it did, but the main shape looked like a samurai sword so I went from there.

There probably already is a font named Samurai, but I haven't seen it yet so I wouldn't know.

Thank you so much for the input.

Typeface Samurai

Jared Benson12 February 2003 · 16:09

Michael,

Congratulations on getting this far. I'm confident you'll get some good feedback here.

I can offer a few basic tips:

1. Try not to "frankenstein" your letters. I'm noticing that you're flipping "n" to make "u", "p" to make "q", "m" to make "w", and "b" to make "d" - You're better off drawing a custom letter for each, and you'll get more life out of a typeface by doing so.

2. The transition between large swooping arc to straight line feels awkward- try less contrast.

3. Try to create consistencies in where you use a broad stroke versus a thin stroke. Here's a good example: http://www.typography.com/catalog/didot/charset.html

4. Don't beat the samurai shape to death - Every letter doesn't have to have it to make a successful typeface. Look for other shapes to complement it.

5. Finally, a word on baselines and x-heights. Create some rules in your design document for consistent sizes. Right now it looks like the letters vary up and down, and setting some rules will help the overall design hold together. See some of the lowercase examples in our Type 101 course (Under "Courses")