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Kelmas
Posted by Eimantas Paškonis in
1 Sep 2011 — 2:12am
1 Sep 2011 — 2:12am
*** Images are from 1 version earlier. /T is now wider and /S straighter. ***
Still haven't decided about title.
What started as quick, for-fun, only-caps font, is turning out to be a multilingual family of 2 weights that could be counted as 6 fonts. Because there are small caps, swashed style and alternates for both of them. That's even not counting ligatures (for Cyrillic too!).
Plus manual T1 hinting.
Update 4 (2012/V/30)
pdf's:
http://cl.ly/H06i (Light)
http://cl.ly/H03z (Dark)
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27 Oct 2011 — 3:08am
I had small caps done for quite some time now. They are at x-height.
And also this night I got an interesting idea for swashes (utilizing smallcaps):
Capital /T/ is too narrow, isn't it?
27 Oct 2011 — 3:17am
Nice progress! I know it's probably unsolvable in a neat way, but the /m/ does disrupt the colour and stroke rhythm quite a bit to my eyes.
27 Oct 2011 — 7:37am
Love the ligatures. Love the over/under rules. /T/ does feel too narrow. You are getting very close!
28 Oct 2011 — 6:04am
Stylistic alternates
29 Oct 2011 — 1:14am
Some more:
14 Nov 2011 — 6:14am
Wow love that idea for the swashes! That gives a lot extra to this typeface.
Smallcaps and ligatures look great!
19 Nov 2011 — 3:59am
I think these should be the new /n m/.
19 Nov 2011 — 4:12am
Agreed on n. Not sure about m.
19 Nov 2011 — 4:29am
Because of middle connection? Filled-up version stood out too much.
19 Nov 2011 — 10:00am
Try it with just the middle (right) connection filled. Not sure if it works, just a suggestion.
2 Dec 2011 — 9:11am
odd, i even though /m/ and /n/ are similarly constructed i prefer the new /n/ more than the new /m/. Can't say why though. Maybe try what LexLuengas suggest?
Then again, if you have to make a consistency call, i'd go for both new versions for sure.
I also wonder, now that you are using this in the /n/, should you consider the /p/ /b/ and /d/ too? How about /p/ and /q/? They have the same 'filled gap' (if you see what i mean) that you are now leaving unfilled in the new /n/ and /m/.
Also, did you have to change the name for Magnolia into Magnel for some reason??
Still love that typeface!
5 Dec 2011 — 10:05am
Had to change name because of MVG Fonts complain (they have font named Magnolia).
7 Dec 2011 — 2:18am
Too bad, loved that name!
This /m/ does look slightly weird to me. I'd go with the last version before this, where both connections are unfilled.
7 Dec 2011 — 4:40am
I think the last m could work (the "connected" one).
7 Dec 2011 — 4:59am
Why include small caps in a display face? At x-height they’re useless for text. Your decorative over/underlined caps are wonderful. Why not connect them with the H (and similar serifs)?
8 Dec 2011 — 6:57am
I use small caps for display quite often. The proportions sometimes fit well for logo work for example. I use them like an expanded version of the face, often times without the tall caps at all. I agree about connecting the rules, that would be a fantastic touch.
9 Dec 2011 — 7:20am
Better question would be: why NOT to include small caps?
Of course no one will use this for body copy, but the more features, the better.
9 Dec 2011 — 8:20am
Oeeehh, connecting those over/underlines would be very pretty!
9 Dec 2011 — 1:00pm
More features does not = better.
10 Dec 2011 — 2:52am
Are you trolling?
Smallcaps can be used not only for abbreviations in body copy, but in illustrations, logos, you name it.
Yeah, I totally shouldn't include already finished smallcaps chars because one individual doesn't like that, for unknown reason.
If you think these aren't worthy to charge money for: smallcaps will be an OT feature (not a separate font).
Uppercase + swashes will be free to anyone.
Whole font will be free to forumers (including grumpy people like you) – what I did with Magnel.
10 Dec 2011 — 9:12am
I just saw this - it's quite charming!
I haven't read the whole thread, but:
My view on smallcaps has long been that they should not be included
in any low-price version of a typeface; it makes more sense to let the
clueless (like 95% of users) afford the cheap basic version and charge
a premium for people who are wise enough to pay for the good stuff.
hhp
14 Dec 2011 — 7:22am
Which is better?
14 Dec 2011 — 7:26am
Top!
hhp
14 Dec 2011 — 7:44am
I concur. Maybe the central stroke could be a little bit narrower.
15 Dec 2011 — 2:13am
Top shape is nice for vintage stuff as yours.
16 Dec 2011 — 3:27am
Oh snap! I like the bottom one better. It's much more readable to me, even though the top one is more original... maybe it's because the top & bottom stroke of the /E/ don't line up?
16 Dec 2011 — 10:38am
> much more readable
Although the font might look like books on a shelf, it's no book font! :-)
hhp
28 Dec 2011 — 8:03pm
I was wondering adding a serif to the bottom of the Q's tail would be interesting, as the current tail is just a straight line..
8 Jan 2012 — 8:13am
Love the style!
1 Feb 2012 — 1:06am
Been working and re-working kerning all this time.
Here's connected swashes. It should be either 1st or 3rd.
Opera's 2nd option isn't pretty.
1 Feb 2012 — 6:27am
I've come to think that /A/ with vertical stem probably would work better there.
This one is also tricky:
1 Feb 2012 — 6:59am
I like the cartouches!
hhp
1 Feb 2012 — 8:03am
What's a cartouch? :)
1 Feb 2012 — 8:30am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartouche
Generally, a cigar-shape encapsulating some writing.
hhp
1 Feb 2012 — 4:59pm
Why force the connection? It makes sense with seriffed letters, but not an O. Something’s wierd with your curve to straight transitions …
6 Feb 2012 — 6:58am
I could make connected capitals and if user doesn't like it, he just could not activate swash for capital and have regular letter. If it's slanted letter like /A/, advanced users could extend line by themselves.
7 Feb 2012 — 8:37am
Or I could just make both. Connected could be activated with SALT.
13 Feb 2012 — 10:03am
Is it readable enough?
28 Feb 2012 — 11:17am
Ran into problems when kerning Initials.
Same situation happens with /A P V/
I have to either change the shape of the Initial (ugly) or to use ligatures (messy)...
30 May 2012 — 9:01am
Updated the OP.
Solved swashes' kerning problem by using contextual alternates with special metrics instead of kerning.
Right now I'm finishing the dark's features and an exhausting kerning of every combination of lowercase / uppercase / smallcaps.
30 May 2012 — 8:55am
This is golden. Sell it well.
hhp
30 May 2012 — 9:00am
Like the title, I haven't decided about price. I kept changing my mind between $30 and $40 for a style (-50% when both) numerous times...
30 May 2012 — 9:17am
Consider where it will sell the most. I'm getting a strong American vibe out of this, so consider an English word, perhaps related to trees... Ah, I got it: Bark, which has a nice double-meaning (and this font does look like a bulldog too). And it's not taken. Move fast.
As for pricing, this thing has a lot of layers, so I would separate it into different tiers, and maybe try what Buivenga does so well: give the basic one for free, get people hooked, get exposure, but charge a decent amount for the fancies; you might even separate the ligature stuff from the cartouche stuff, although too much complexity does turn people off.
hhp
30 May 2012 — 8:22pm
Interesting coincidence - this just posted:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68178950@N08/7304902240
hhp
30 May 2012 — 11:23pm
Not much of concidence. The only similarity is rounded corners.
But what kind of /N is that?
7 Jun 2012 — 11:28am
Hazelnut
7 Jun 2012 — 1:18pm
Not bad.
And it leaves room for a whole family of nuts.
hhp
26 Jun 2012 — 9:58am
Released as Hazelnut Pro: http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/eimapas/hazelnut-pro/
26 Jun 2012 — 10:11am
Congrats!
hhp