Design Practice Blog: Design Principles

This was the original edit of Futura however I decided to change it as I wanted to create a sans serif geometric typeface.

Futura - ABC XYZ - upper case, lower case and italic:

I created a few edits of the original typeface:

W hairline Serif and varying stroke width:

Hairline stems:

Curved crossbars and horizontals:

I created a grid similar to that of Futura's, stroke width is kept at a constant:

I experimented to see how bold, light and italic the new design could go:

The bold A could go as far as simply being a triangle and would still be legible as a A.

The lightest A could simply be a line, when digitised, the line could be as thin as 0.25pt.

I digitised the design before discovering how italic italic could be as it resulted in a much more precise measurement:

Shearing by 50º was the furthest I believed the design could go before becoming too illegible.

60º created the A to become illegible.

I digitised the grid I had created from based on similarities to Futura.

A regular A.

A light A.

Experiment with the line end point.

I flipped the B as this created a more aesthetically pleasing glyph without breaking the grid.

A comparison with the altered bowl.

This image highlighted the difference the end stroke of a C can make.
I have included this within this design.

The regular font.

When layered the grid becomes apparent.

The light font.

Light, Regular and Bold A.

Light, Regular, Bold B.

To create the italic upper case, I created oblique characters by I altered the grid to be at a 14º angle. To create the italic lower case I would have to change the glyphs.

Italic regular A.

Italic regular B.

Italic A,B,C,X,Y and Z.

Using the same grid as the Upper case, I created the lower case based on the properties of Futura. I then experimented to find out how bold and light the glyph could become before becoming illegible: