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A font based on a well-known optical illusion. For the best result use it together with 2A version. Limited set.
6 Comments
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Font Fatigue
I don't know if there was anything peculiar in the air over the Northern Hemisphere in the last couple of weeks, but my best efforts were greeted with lukewarm apathy. More disturbing, that others did not fare any better. A few months ago, if someone has published a unique design, it prompted at least a dozen elaborate comments, suggestions, congratulations. Fontstruct seemed to be overflown with creative zest, and merriment. Nowadays, if you get three comments, you are lucky. A lot of brilliant work continues to linger unnoticed: they are invisible, they fall under the radar of short-span attention.
People seem to have lost their interest or enthusiasm. Perhaps, they've consumed too much cheap eye candy, and now they don't want to see any more fonts. And if they do see one, they pass by it with a shrug: yet another pile of bricks, c'mon give me a break! Maybe, there is far too much garbage out there on Gallery> Everything (fast approaching 9000), that by the time they find something valuable they are too tired to fully enjoy it.
Font fatigue, as I call it, is a curious state of mind characterized by an oversaturation of the visual faculty (by fonts), and thereby disproportionally elevated sensory threshold, followed by a possible refractory period. It works much the same way as sexual drive do.
There is no way of getting around the fact that FS standard have gone up significantly during the last few months (it will be five months tomorrow that I've joined FS, so I could consider only this period). FS attracts a lot of talented people, and regular members hone their skills with every brick they poke around. What would it take - I wondered - to cross this superhigh sensory barrier and make them interested again? Well, to arouse them from their apathy, it would take nothing less than an exquisitely incomprehensible super-duper fontstruction. That would certainly make a difference. In the short run. It would hopefully alert and mobilize a lot of otherwise shy members to express their awe, and inspire a few to make some derivative works or come up with even brighter ideas. But in the long run it would make things even worse by raising the bar even higher.
(to be continued)
many FSions have very high dls. and while it was the rare FSion that would get into a heavy dl cycle; now, even what i would consider outstanding work, gets mediocre dls. why, i wonder.
perhaps it is font fatigue or saturation. most of the fonts here do have a certain similarity. maybe visitors see this and look elsewhere for their needs? i think it is probably just the newness of the site - still less than 2 yrs old, but i would say already having a meaningful impact in the worlds of typography & typographical design. so it's probably just a combination of things.
which brings me to the other free dl sites. i guess we really aren't entirely a dl site, of course. with the ability to create and distribute fonts, FS is so much more than just free fonts. but does that matter to font hounds? perhaps they go to the more established places, because they are more established.
one of our strong features here is our democracy. anyone can join and create anything they want and publish it. or most anything :) you must be juried to be able to publish on those other sites. while this may limit what someone may perceive as 'not good enough' from being published there, it does not necessarily ensure quality. we have the same quality, but we also have a much wider range of quality here as well.
what can we do to continue to grow with FS? i would encourage anyone who feels strongly about there work, to submit it for publication on some of those 'other' free dl sites. and if accepted, to say where the font originated - here at FontStruct.
i can respect an FSer for not necessarily wanting to have to submit their work for acceptance somewhere else and face possible rejection - which is the downside. i think the upside is that some of those other places offer greater exposure for our work. so we could possibly get additional dls as well as spread the word about FS.
this may be one way to raise the awareness of the site. if someone sees a font done here, somewhere else; they may be inclined to visit us.
but i do feel strongly that we are also primarily a design site - where designers actively work to advance typography. i think while some of us may use eachother's work, i think many designers come here to design and that's it - no muss, no fuss. others are more engaged in the FS community and help encourage the collaboration that is also a strong feature here.
perhaps a true forum would help. or a message board. the live feature is great. but there is so much to discuss about fonts and FS, that a forum/message board would allow better structure for the communication process here.
just some thoughts :)
Getting curves out of diagonals is neverendingly interesting. But the obsession can get a bit claustrophobic. Sometimes I need to go outside and look at the clouds. (Ha ha!)
FS is always going to be waxing and waning. But there are enough nutters like me in the world to never quite resist scratching that "what if I..." itch.
The comments are nice, sure, but it is always a love for designing that is the real motivation to try new font designs. I have a huge pile of fontstructions in various stages of completion but they remain incomplete for one of two reasons: 1. The idea was not good, and 2. The font was too cumbersome to execute. Only the fontstruction that return 'False' on both those statements get as far as sharable stage. Furthermore, my own standards for sharing have gone up since I first started because I even have many fontstructions that are at the sharable stage but I feel that they don't add any value to the general pool of shared fonts so they stay private.
But, yes, font fatigue is very real...speaking for myself only.
Back to the topic, I agree that, recently, there seems to be a dearth of notice payed to new work - apart from the 'usual suspects'. You are especially good at encouraging new and old designers alike.
The bottom line for me is that I am still thoroughly enjoying FS. I would probably carry on using this wonderful facility for my own pleasure even if nobody else saw it. It has enabled me to explore a side of my being that has never before had such an outlet. That the active members of the FS community have been so supportive and ready with useful, constructive critisism has been a major bonus.
As tag says, these things wax and wane but, like him I will carry on enjoying the challenge.
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