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My first serious attempt to make a serif using Fontstruct. This is for a university project, where I am attempting to make a serif that could be used in sci-fi moives/tv shows etc. So I’m trying to figure out what makes a typeface 'sci-fi' without a) being a sans and b)resorting to clichés that impede readability.
Any comments/feedback would be much appreciated!
** Much thanks to everyone who has/is giving feedback. Also a big thanks to William for giving me such detailed suggestions and pointers. **
50 Comments
Begs the question, will there be serifs in the year 3010?
I think you should make the P look like the R without its leg. It looks a little squished to me.
I love sci-fi, in all it's forms and have been doing lots of 'research' for this project, from my observations, Microgramma and Bank Gothic are the 2 most used fonts. Other fonts like Soho or FF Signa Serif are inspiring, but I don't want to copy. :-)
Indento has a bit of a sci-fi feel and it's a slab serif.
I know it's coincidence, but I just noticed that so far, you have just the right letters for me...
@aphoria - hehee yeah that is funny :-)
thanks again for the kind words guys - keep the suggestions coming!
I'll get some more letter done soon - i promise :-)
I usually open two different fontstructions in different Firefox tabs and then copy-and-paste between them.
TEXT OF THE LINK
Replace YOUR URL by the URL you want to link to, and TEXT OF THE LINK by the word(s) that will appear as a link. Take care : every character and space is important.
Also.. I know I've been advertising a lot, I'm desperate, can you join the FontStruct Forum (fontstruct.forumotions.com)?
I’m glad you went in the extended direction. I was going to suggest as much – both for the “Epic” look, and because fontstruct practically demands it by enforcing such a limited set of diagonals. This looks a ton better, as I see you begin to finesse some of the blockiness that was sapping the life from that whole sleek, Sci-fi pastiche.
What a fine line between a futuristic angular sophistication and an antiquated chisel-hewn imitation!
I have made a clone of your work. In it, I’ve made a whole slew of suggestions about where to go from here with the capitals. I even push the font further in the “display” direction – without sacrificing significant legibility.
I find that despite all the polygonal similarities, the caps are actually lacking a uniform personality. So here’s what I tried:
• I made a bunch of adjustments to character widths for consistency. This helps, I think.
• I tried to bring more consistency to the serifs, especially in the C,G, and S terminals.
• That J needs some serious help; I don’t know if mine is quite the one, but it’s an idea to play with.
• The B always bugged me (well, really how A, B, C, D seemed to each belong to a different font). I worked it quite a bit and came to a decent solution that fits better with the distinctive D.
• The K, P, and R inherited the new B’s notched middle bar which also created a template for the A, J, N, Q, W, and Z to sport small, sharp details. You may dispute this approach, but my point (no pun intended) is to bring in more refined details to both gel and polish the set.
• Please take out the asymmetrical bracketing of the serifs. Those sharp intersections are actually working for you!
• If any of this seems helpful, check out the new characters closely. Just about every one of them has some minor or major changes that may help you come closer to a final set.
To me, Sci-fi is all about coherency of style and/or refinement of personality. Bring on the shapely space serifs, then! We just happen to be drifting through the doldrums of soulless sans at this moment in Sci-fi’s pop culture evolution...and a pandemic of design clichés in cinematic type treatments as a whole!
i am going to take a close look now, but your sugestions are very much appreaciated!!!
I agree about the streamlining of everything, i think i was trying to fight that too much in an effort to be different, but it was getting in the way.
ok, i'm going to jump into your and see what you are talking about.
thanks!!!!
You know, I think you have plenty of uniqueness going on here, just a matter of decided what the keep/emphasize and where to borrow from the more tried and true. I think you’re on the right path and doing well.
BTW, since you may be looking at the other version right now (and I don’t know how these message chains work in realtime...) I have made a couple more tweaks over at Starfokker that may interest you. I don’t want to be redundant, here, but I also don’t want you to miss out since these changes at this point are awfully subtle!
lowercase getting there, i hope to finish it tonight! (well i *need* to to get it submitted on time!!!)
As I lay here still recovering from the traumatic events of just over a week ago, I’ve had a chance to mull over your in-progress lowercase set. Testament to the time on my hands.
Sorry, I just couldn’t wait :) So I cloned Starflyer again and filled in the lc blanks while making suggestions for the glyphs you’ve already completed. I really like the idea of your original e, so I gave that another shot. For such a commonly occurring character, I think it can travel light years imbuing that techy, Sci-fi quality you’re after. Plus, it mimics the unique uppercase glyphs with their slanting crossbars! Of course, you will need make your own considerations before reaching the final conclusion.
Well, I hope you have fun speedily finishing up the last phase of this university project!
thanks for doing the rest of lc - but now you've out me in a slightly awkward position! :-)
Sorry about imposing! I should have waited, to be sure – this is your project, after all. I just got all excited to see samples set in U&lc and once I started in that direction it was hard to stop. : )
Here’s what I’ll do. Until you‘ve had a chance to finish the lc according to your own inspiration I will hide my suggestions. Then, when you are ready for some feedback, I will share it again. That’s the right time for a dialog anyway!
Just over a week ago, Saturday, I got in a wicked car crash in which my vehicle rolled. I lost consciousness for maybe and hour and half, got about half-scalped and concussed in the process, but somehow walked away from it without any significant neurological damage. Boy am I thankful to have my life!
But I haven’t been able to work my job since the crash and today will actually be my first attempt at putting in some hours. Wish me luck! I still have this wicked pain at the base of my spine whenever I stand up from sitting or kneeling – and I work a somewhat public job – so hopefully I don’t make too many scenes grimacing, and grunting, and grabbing whatever’s close for support until the pain passes. :-/
re accident - that's totally crazy! i'm glad you're ok (well, considering). all the best with work and your continued healing!
I think the lowercase is killer.
You deserve high marks, as far as I am concerned. Ultimately this represents a pretty successful, and well-considered – or gutsy – or both – leap of faith.
I have certainly had the experience with complicated, large-grid fontstructions going well enough until reaching those certain troublesome glyphs that just won’t fly as I desire no matter how hard I twist the bricks. I mean, dang, that’s what lead me to isolating and refining the whole brickstacking bug into a usable form. Sheer determination to make it work.
In these cases, maybe I got pretty good at hiding this behind some conceit or other. One can celebrate these challenges as limitations of the medium which lead to “creative” solutions, but they always hallmark the result as distinctly fonstructian and give irrefutable credence (as if this was needed!) to Erik Spiekermann’s quote used as the first sample in the “Meet Fontstruct” newsletter entry from way back when.
Well, I don’t see that you had to hide behind trickery much at all with Starflyer. In your chosen style, you succeeded in avoiding clichés while creating a distinct and consistently legible work.
I wonder: What kind of feedback did you get from your peers/instructors? Were they already familiar with FontStruct? Did you have to prepare some kind of specimen you would be willing to share?
And where do you go from here? New adventures that benefit from what you learned here, I hope. Of course I have that little bit more feedback concerning the lowercase. Now that it’s a good time to share it, I hope your enjoyment adds to the fun and challenge I had playing with it. There’s always numerals, the more common punctuation – and all the massive expanse of possible characters you could create to make this a truly multi-lingual tour de force.
To me, working with the extended character set is a lot of what makes fontstruct compelling. It offers a context to research foreign typography from languages I otherwise know very little about. What an interesting window into the way others see this world.
You surely worked hard on this one. And with a pressing deadline. If it turns out you need to take a break from it, put it to bed as it is, or otherwise bring your inspiration to new horizons, I totally understand and even encourage this eventuality!
Cheers!
William
I'd love to work as a team with someone (or a group) on a fontstruction, but cloning alone just does not cut it.
thanks p2pnut for the kind words!
i still have plans to extend this font :-)
PS: It was a bit shocking to see my vote was the first 10. Well, you've got a severe jury, but it's not a bad thing.
Sye: Thanks for posting the samples. They look great! Is that row of names on the third one friends or family? Dijon mustard: haha, that just tickles me ^o^ and the magenta ZOIDBERG punchline is a knockout! I am thoroughly impressed by how well the B, R, and P go with the rest of the text. I get that you had a great feeling for the sense of humor possible with this design which totally caught me by surprise.
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