My Final Font BE4 I Disappear... (Special Font!)

Ray Meadow’s gorgeous take on uncial script is one of the best large-scale fontstructions ever released. The font has character, wit, and charm to spare and surely deserves all the attention and adulation awarded it by fontstructors and paying customers alike. Like any great work, it compels us to look closely and savour the details.

Inspecting Ray’s work, I sensed a range of mostly minor refinements and exacting adjustments that might make this gem shine all the more brightly. So, in the spirit of camaraderie, I requested permission to apply myself to a clone of his work in order to bring forth and share some of these suggestions. Approached in stages, the task of polishing this stone to my liking spread out over more than half a year.

My main goal was to smooth the modular geometry out as much as possible, address some stroke weight and contrast issues throughout, and rebalance specific forms. In many cases, I use custom composite and advanced stacking tricks to fine tune the curves of these letterforms. Upon studious inspection, a wealth of tweaks are revealed. I suspect that setting basic words and sentences is now an even greater joy with this version, and pray it will be of benefit and inspiration to make Ray’s great work even better.

The total effect strikes a greater unity between the uppercase and the lowercase. A few letters are significant departures from their starting points (K, k R, W) and offered both as suggestions for the mains and ideas for alternates. After so many hours of exploratory modulation, I am pleased to share this technical feedback with Ray and the fontstruct community*.

*For now cloning is off until I can communicate with Ray about the best approach to take with this. Hopefully we can find a way to share this without attracting a torrent of rip-offs.