Looks nice, lots of interestng details. Love that thing you’re doing with the serifs on vertical strokes. Look forward to seeing the final cut!

Thanks for the kind words Arun. Still lots to do, so it will take me a little while ;)

I like that you are turning to sharper serifs. But I have some reservations regarding the non-symmetrical character of those serifs. (Please take in account that I am quite jealous of your typecreation skills…)

. . .
Bert Vanderveen BNO

Thanks for being jealous Bert ;)
The reason why the serifs are so non-symmetrical is because I’m trying to create an top-right direction with it to (maybe) help the eye to go to the top right of each caracter. Perhabs better illustrated with an upside-down image.

I like the look of this. It is elegant and original, and seems to work great both as a display type and in body copy. There appears to be quite a lot of unfinished LJB-gems to look forward to in 2008: DeliciousX, Fontin Serif, Museo and Calluna. Which of these will be freeware, and which will be for sale?

Thanks Alrid. I would like it to be my first text face (optimized for about 10/11 pt) with enough detail to also be suitable for display work. I’m not sure if I want to do a seperate display version.

I’ve indeed many fonts to finish. I guess I’m too easily distracted by new ideas (like Calluna) I like to try out :)

Most of my new fonts will remain free with some payed ’extras’ like small caps or a light or heavy weight.

What aspects of this are you currently working on?

Do you mean Calluna or all the unfinished fonts mentioned by Alrid?

The way some of the eccentricities of the lowercase are translated into analogous, but sturdier, forms in the uppercase is really nice. I wonder though why you made certain decisions about some of the top serifs within the uppercase set. Compare H and I to V, W and U. Maybe I’m missing something. I know those straight letters at the end of the alphabet are something of a clique...

I particularly like the question mark and the lowercase p and q. I’m also jealous as hell.

That’s a sharp observation ... so I guess you’re not missing anything :)

I like to keep the right serifs of V,W & U but ’transferring’ a top serif of H (I tried) would make the left serifs of prev chars too thin. Still struggling though.

I meant Calluna. I was thinking that if I were to ask question or give a crit I would be more helpful if I knew what you were thinking of yourself. Also, I am wondering when you make the ff ligs contextual versions are you doing the ff lig as one glyph or two?

... I would like it to be my first text face (optimized for about 10/11 pt) with enough detail to also be suitable for display work ...

On the ff ligatures the crossbar between the two f’s measures thinner so two f’s overlapping is not going to work. I do have an alternate f for the first f in an ff pair (when ligatures are of or when tracking breaks up the ff ligature).

For now it’s a bit early for really detailed critin’ because I’m still in the middle of my own processes. The reason why I’ve posted this on my blog was because of Florian’s ’f+umlaut’ topic. General remarks, feelings or directions are of course more then welcome :)

Thanks to Eric’s comment I had to give the serif on V, W, X and Y (l&uc) another go. You can take a look at the pdf to see the changes. I owe you Eric!

No problem—I’m glad I could be of help!

There is something still a bit frankenstein-like about the serif treatment. It seems arbitrary & theory-based rather than optical and observed. It does make me wonder about what I think though; which is a pleasant challenge. So far I am not sure.

The main thing I would encourage you to do is to think in terms of what the space between letters needs. The serif treatments need not be literally consistent to work. There are old & new fonts where this is so. Look at the a s and l (el) in
Amalia . There are 5 different approaches to the serifs. And yet to my eye each is working optically. You can tell this is true better from a print out than in the flash preview.

I would also watch out for details that may sparkle and catch the eye a bit too much. It might be that the bases of those serifs do that. Or not. But I wonder.

In any event I will have a proper look soon.

@ Eric: Thanks again and please drop by now and then :)

Eben, the base serifs were the theory-based start of this font, but I quickly let optics decide. Thanks for the nice Amalia link. I’ll have a look. If you want to have a better look at Calluna I’ll be happy to send you a beta font file. Let me know.

I’ll take you up on that offer! BTW, Do you have any other contextual alterations going on in the font besides the f+(x)umlauts?

Great. YGM.

I do have some other calt combinations like f-), f-] and f-}.
I’m also experimenting with ’caps’ numbers if numbers are
flanked by a capital, but I’m not sure about it.

Like this:

Very nice indeed.

I really *love* those serifs! (though for a book face they distract me too much).

I think having lining rather than old-style numerals with capitals is a good idea.

Hi Szabolcs, Thanks for commenting ... maybe I’ve got (too) used to the serifs, because I think they work well at smaller sizes.

It’s great that you and Eben like the idea of the lining numerals (still have to script it properly though).

Hm, that smaller-size image actually gives a lot of insights. E.g. that the serifs on the minuscles are not as distracting as I thought they would be (they definitely were on the “display” sizes to me; on display sizes on the other hand such decoration, standing-out is desirable). They work really well!
As I said, it’s the serifs I like about the font very much, and I see how they are the core of your experiment/development. On the other hand, while one could notice the discrepancy of the V,W,Us compared to the other capitals in the first version published, I’d give it a try the other way round: Would it be bold to suggest a trial of having the top serifs of the first vertical stem (or the only one) of any capital to be more symmetric (i.e. slightly more protruding to the right), transferring the minuscle-like characteristics only to the second vertical stem? (This came to my mind as two letters felt “wrong” to me: I and H; interestingly not so much L).

I’ve got two-three more observations, but they are in the detail, and so I will shut up: it’s a “first peek not ready for crit yet” after all :-)

This is a lovely bit of work. Please, keep us posted!!!

... I’d give it a try the other way round ...
I’m willing to give that a try, but for now –as I’m a little reluctant to change this– I’ve adjusted the serifs so that they appear more balanced. (See the new pdf).

I’ve got two-three more observations, but they are in the detail, and so I will shut up: it’s a “first peek not ready for crit yet” after all
You’ve made me curious. I think I can take it at this stage :) So please bring it on.

This is a lovely bit of work. Please, keep us posted!!!
Thanks Alex! Hereby.

Just for progress’ sake ... some first sans attempts ... I will lay her down on the chopping block soon.

prachtig!
Beautiful!

Dank/thanks Arjen. I’m very busy with the MUSEO release on MyFonts right now. I’ll get back on Calluna when time is due (read shortly).

¡Awesome!

¡Reawesome!

¡Requeawesome!

¡Requeteawesome!

Jos, on the 3rd image down, is that a ft ligature? And it is curvy too, i didn’t say it early

No, it’s an ff or an ff-something ligature. BTW Andre ... thanks for your e-mail! I’ll reply soon.

Take your time, no hurry. You are most welcome!