Dalton Maag: Type design

Intro into Type Design:
In order to start developing a typeface Dalton Maag starts with kick off workshops where they explore existing typefaces by looking at the characteristics of fonts and determining what the client does and doesn't like. Within the worksop they present an image gallery and ask the client to pick those which best represent the values. On the reverse of the images are typographic representations of the image which allows Dalton Maag to make the transition from values into typographic characteristics. Another exercise is the font grid (see figure 1) where the client is asked to add cards to the sections which is most important to there brand. Once the workshop is complete Dalton Maag revisit their brief and work through the following stages, discuss, sketch an design. Once the sketches have been drawn there digitalised using Postscript which involves describing the outline of the letters with as little nods as possible. The typeface is presented using TrueType which allows the font to be hinted which involves controlling the pixels within each letterform. The font is present in a regular weight which is developed into extreme weights once the client has signed off. Once extreme weights have been developed it becomes easier to alter the weighting to present different weights to the client. Once the font is design they move onto looking at kerning by adding structures to increase the space. Finally once the font is designed it then needs to be engineered to work on all platforms. Coding is used to control the metrics of the font to allow the font to be successfully delivered to the client. Final delivery comes in the following forms:
Desktop:
- TTF
Web:
- EOT
- TTF
- WOFF
- WOFF2
App:
- TTF

Optical Principles:
Contrast:
- difference in thicks and thins
- comes from tools used to create the font
- need to make sure application is consistant
- need to make weight compensations
- take weight out of horizontals
- rounds need to be heavier than straights
- cut into x areas to make and x and not a cross

Workshop:
Figure 2 shows my attempt to recreate a typeface by looking at the characteristics of existing letterforms to form the basis of the g, n and e. I found this particularly interesting to gauge the width, x-height and connections based of the other letterforms by looking at the characteristics of the existing letters. The most difficult letterform to develop was the 'g' as it was difficult to determine the length if the descender as there wasn't a clear indication to draw from. Overall I found this task interesting as it challenged by existing knowledge of typography and forced me to notice the details within the letterforms which I would of otherwise missed.

Figure 1

Figure 2