New to Typophile? Accounts are free, and easy to set up.
DPTH Handsome Sans
Posted by Dept H in
24 Apr 2010 — 7:55am
24 Apr 2010 — 7:55am
Hello,
this is my first post here. I am hoping to get some feedback on a type family I have been working on. It's called Handsome, it has nine weights, small caps and italics. I think I may redraw the italic numerals as they are slanted roman at present…
anyway it would be good to get a response! Thanks very much.
http://www.dept-h.co.uk/index.php?/fonts/handsome/
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Handsome-typophile.gif | 18.1 KB |
| DPTH_HandsomeTextWeights.pdf | 64.19 KB |
User login
Support our Sponsors
24 Apr 2010 — 11:10am
Just a quick heads-up: The name is taken; Nick Shinn has a Handsome font out.
http://shinntype.com/handsome.html
24 Apr 2010 — 11:15am
I like it.
But I think if you would like a proper critique, it would be better to attach a PDF specimen with some actual text set using the typeface.
Edit: I thought I had already heard the name...
24 Apr 2010 — 11:47am
yes I was aware of the other font, but as my surname is Hands and my designs have DPTH before them I felt it was okay
24 Apr 2010 — 1:22pm
I'd try to make the perfect right angled corner of /d/ softer, so it wouldn't stand out that much. And then I'd try to see if doing the same for /a/ and /g/ improves the overall look of the font without changing its character too much.
24 Apr 2010 — 3:42pm
I like it very much. The one thing that bothers me is the r. I'd go with a straight, slightly inclined arm that meets the stem a little further down.
24 Apr 2010 — 8:39pm
I felt it was okay
It's not.
Usually, prefixing a foundry acronym is applied to a classic face, e.g. Adobe Caslon, not for contemporary faces.
24 Apr 2010 — 10:25pm
If for example Nick has a trademark on the name "Handsome" for a typeface, I would think this would be a pretty clear case of trademark infringement. If not, it's merely a really bad idea.
(Yes, it's hard to come up with non-infringing names for new typefaces.)
Cheers,
T
25 Apr 2010 — 3:32am
Nice work! I really like that r!
25 Apr 2010 — 4:08am
Handsome is indeed a trademark of Shinntype, since 1999, when the typeface was first published.
25 Apr 2010 — 10:36am
I like the y. The a as an upside down b (or mirrored d) does not look convincing to me (words like "hand"). The t stands on a rather weak foot and the r is too wide IMHO.
Andreas
26 Apr 2010 — 3:16am
oh dear: http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/castletype/handsome/
27 Apr 2010 — 12:49pm
I had a look at removing the right-angles from the a,b,p,& q but the whole look of the font is the clash between such geometric details and humanist forms. This aspect also determines the look of the lowercase r, l and the 1. There's also an optional n form that is without curves and many of the characters have curves that become corners: U,u, P, R, B, A etc. Thanks for the suggestions though. I have now redrawn the italic numerals:
Curves-to-corners:
27 Apr 2010 — 3:49pm
1 could be mistaken for 7.
27 Apr 2010 — 4:10pm
Ah, they could indeed! Thanks!
27 Apr 2010 — 5:11pm
I can easily live with the sharpness of the /a/, /b/, etc. But the /d/ still bothers me. I think the problem is that its axis of symmetry unusually goes NW-SE. The same is true for the /p/, but for whatever reason I'm more comfortable with this one.
I must confess I don't like the /l/ (lc L) either. I'd try a bottom like the one of the /t/, or settle on a standard rectengular shape.
Also, the /o/ is composed of two perfect circles, isn't it? It doesn't look so good. You should make the BCP handles a tiny bit longer. And then do the same with all the other quarter circles.
5 Aug 2010 — 8:42am
Hello again,
Been twiddling with this design again, and obviously the actual name of the font is still in limbo.
In an attempt to keep the 'Hands' part in the final name, I've kind of narrowed down to two choices… and as the name of the font caused more response than the actual design it only seemed right to air these ideas here.
So, they are: Handsohm or Handsans
Any comments or preferences would be very welcome, thanks very much!
7 Aug 2010 — 10:17am
I'm confused by your naming strategy. I don't think it is important to include your own name. Name the fonts for something related to their design or some wider vision. Otherwise it's a bit like ABBA or TLC.
I'm also confused by how somebody can trademark a word they did not invent. Sure, them's the rules, but I can't fathom the logic.
24 Aug 2010 — 4:01pm
Hands-on.
24 Aug 2010 — 8:35pm
"I'm also confused by how somebody can trademark a word they did not invent. Sure, them's the rules, but I can't fathom the logic."
I'm no expert, but I think trademarks have to do with protecting brand recognition. If a company or product takes on a name that is striking similar to another, also similar, entity, confusion could arise as to what's what and who's who.
For example, even though the car company did not invent the word Jaguar, they have the trademark because the name, logo, et cetera are widely recognized and strongly identify them. However, it was perfectly fine for Apple to call its OS "Jaguar" years ago, since "Mac OSX Jaguar" is sufficiently distinct, and in a very different market, therefore preventing any appreciable amount of confusion.
Copyrights, on the other hand, are a different story altogether...
That's my layman's understand of it anyway.
@DeptH
I really like it. Although, I do find the p to be distracting. The bowl feels odd to me, even though I can see it is constructed identically to the a, b, q, etc bowls.