A font out of which the bejeezus has already been ligated.

Posted by pdxuser in

Type ID Board

12 Aug 2010 — 8:43am

I want to ligate the bejeezus out of a font, or find a font out of which the bejeezus has already been ligated.

What I'm thinking of is mechanical single-line lettering like the inside line of the CNN logo (the "cable" in the Cable News Network), something you could theoretically craft out of neon tubing or engrave with a rotary tool.

The caps in Bryant are close to workable, except for letters like "C", which would need to terminate horizontally to be connected to, say, a "T." I'm sure I'll end up creating these letters myself, but it would be nice to see how others have done it, to get a sense of what I want to emulate or do differently.

NJMcLellan
12 Aug 2010 — 9:10am

Like...these?

http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/downloads/virus_fonts/expletive_script/

http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/singles/process_type_foundry/fig_script_ot/

-NJ

pdxuser
12 Aug 2010 — 9:20am

Thank you, that's along the right lines, but I'm hoping for something closer to a basic, unadorned sans, but connected. Expletive is a bit curly and FIG is a bit angular for me.

NJMcLellan
12 Aug 2010 — 9:37am

Heh, worth a shot.

It's an interesting proposition. There are plenty of sans faces now including ligatures in their character sets, but they tend to be just for standard letter combinations or just alternative presentations of characters (for example, an LL lig where the second l is shorter and sits inside the first).

The new(ish) ITC Avant Garde Gothic Pro restores all the classic ligatures, in OpenType, that have been unavailable for years. There are ligs of both the above types in the mix, but perhaps they will prove useful. I fear that you may have to bite the bullet and create your own type, or heavily customise an existing one. Remember that, short of using a script face (like the ones I post above), typographers cannot logistically create ligs for every conceivable combination of characters.

http://www.fontshop.com/search/?q=itc+avant+garde+gothic+pro

Good luck!

-NJ

pdxuser
12 Aug 2010 — 9:49am

Well, I suppose a font that has already done the work for me would be a challenge along the lines of Ed Interlock. But one that provides the basic shapes and lets me do the connecting would be useful.

frode frank
12 Aug 2010 — 10:46am