Aragorn

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Balanced Rating: 7.72
Average Rating: 7.67
Click for more information about this rating. 7.72 18 votes

by Frodo7

80 196217

This is an experiment to blend blackletter and modern serif elements. Work in progress.
Info:

Created on 14th August 2009. Last edited on 19th December 2009.
License:

Creative Commons
Categories:
- Blackletter
- Serif
Sets:
Tag:
- Blackletter(382)
- Modern Serif(3)

19 Comments

It's a work in progress. After 2 and a half months of incubation I decided to release this work to public scrutiny. This is an experimental project to combine blackletter and modern serif elements, and see if the result is aesthetically pleasing. Any comment, critique is welcome.

Comment by Frodo7 1st november 2009

Frodo7, your work is always impeccable. Even though this font is unfinished, it still gets my 10.

Comment by fontcollector 1st november 2009

looks great! ust one question, i thought slab serifs were close to the same weight as the stems, as the stems here have so much contrast, and the serifs take cues from the thin strokes, it seems more like a blackletter/modern (think didone) combo. just a thought, and of course i could be way off :-)

Comment by Eris Alar (sparkleglitch) 1st november 2009

I may not say so for each of your creations, but there's some form of excellence in everything you share. Thank you for making us try harder.

And, Aragorn, eh? If I remember my LotR, this looks more like Boromir to me. Then again, I only read the book once so I am probably missing some technical nuance. Enlighten us, please.

Comment by thalamic 1st november 2009

Thank you for your comments. No harsh critique so far, but I really need some feedback before I make decisions on some glyph variations.

@SimonRobertson: Well, I'm not an expert type theorist. I only rely on some books written by experts. They describe at least seven different classes of serifs. And you are quite right about the slab serif, I was wrong. It is indeed a blackletter/modern serif, a.k.a. "abrubt contrast straight serif" combo. Thank you for the correction.

@thalamic: Aragorn or Boromir? When you read the book, you imagine the scenes, the plot, the characters. To me Aragorn is tall, elegant and kingly, who was raised in Rivendell. He is learned in ancient law, valiant, merciful, wise and noble. Boromir, a captain of Gondor, is more of a soldier, strong and brave. In type terms Boromir would be a robust slab serif or a stencil font of military style, rather than a slender typeface like this one. Before selecting a particular name for this fontstruction it had a working title. I've spent some time considering various options before I chose the present name. I think the blackletter elements reflect his connection to the glorious past (he is the last member of an ancient royal dynasty), and the modern serif parts may refer to the future, he brings to mankind, the Age of Men. My only concern is that my design might not be good enough, worthy to his name.

Comment by Frodo7 2nd november 2009

This has the makings of a real FS classic. Elegant and useable ... one could almost imagine it being used for ........

Comment by p2pnut 2nd november 2009

@p2pnut: You are the most kind. After a hard day's work I came home and found your pic. It made me smile. It made my day. Thank you.

Comment by Frodo7 2nd november 2009

Looking forward to the full set. :-)

Do you know the work of Vojtěch Preissig?

Comment by gferreira_admin 3rd november 2009

@gferreira: Yes, I know his works very well. The Czech Modernist set is featured in the first Indie Fonts book, p.215. I was fascinated by those letterforms, and experimented with some FS adaptation only to conclude the current set of bricks does not support those various angles. Yes, the m,n looks similar, but the present work is more of a continuation of my Nimrodel-Legolas line. At least the first primitive glyphs came from there.

Comment by Frodo7 4th november 2009

Congratulations! FontStruct Staff have deemed your FontStruction worthy of special mention. “Aragorn ” is now a Top Pick.

Comment by gferreira_admin 18th november 2009

Comment by Frodo7 19th november 2009

This is coming along nicely. Faves: l/c a, cap Y, both g variants, ALL the ligs (they're so beautiful).

Comment by intaglio 20th november 2009

this is not a type ... it's enough to make ma grit ma teeth :)

Comment by p2pnut 20th november 2009

This is really good frodo7. Keep up the great work.

Comment by aphoria 20th november 2009

@p2pnut: I think you are the only one who understood my reference to René Magritte's famous work, La Trahison des images (Ceci n'est pas une pipe), 1929. (The betrayal/treachery of pictures, This is not a pipe). I just could not resist the opportunity of the obvious parallel: you are not seeing my type, but a picture/screenshot of it. Magritte teaches us that sometimes our perception fail, and there is a fundamental difference between the real thing and its pictorial representation.

Sorry to bother you with lame philosophy.

Comment by Frodo7 22nd november 2009

awww... you had to go and spoil it. Neat anagram, 'nut.

Comment by intaglio 23rd november 2009