Final Blackletter Font: Stage 1 Cleared

Ok, so I've finished the hard part with just the blackletter now, all I gotta do is mac it all up now, which shouldn't be a problem!

The whole font is done including the A-Z in upper and lowercase with all the punctuation and symbols and the numbers!

Making the parent fonts: fun work or just a chore?

Ok, so making the two fonts before the actual hybrid didn't seem much of a task when I thought about it. But once you actually start thinking about making the font (which is not even going to be downloaded in the end) it starts to become tiresome. BUT! I want to give the two fonts that will be mixing together as much design time as I will be giving to the hybrid, so that everything is perfect in the end with the hybrid. Don't wanna mess this up, so I guess I've just gotta put my head down and get this part done!

First Generation hybrids

These are the rest of my experimental hybrids from the fonts Proclamate light light and Helvetica regular.

They are small case letters and I did these experimental hybrids just to get me used to how dominant and recessive traits will play a part in type genetics (my favourite crossbreed was the 'b'). I tried out breeding capitals too, and the pictures following show all of my results.

The uppercase 'P' and 'E' I'm not happy with them at all. I think I was trying too hard with them and they just got ruined in that process but thats my area to improve in for next time.

My next step will be to create my own fonts. That will include;

1 serif blackletter font

1 san-serif font

1 offspring of the above two (a hybrid font)

And a hybrid is born....

After choosing a few letters to start breeding, I've started to note down the key traits of each font character and started to rationalise what will make it to the hybrid and what will be cast as a recessive trait.

Ok, so I did a very quick sketch on the hybrid, and then scanned it so that I could make a digital copy of it on illustrator. The curves aren't the way I would like them to be, so that needs to improve, but the overall shape of the hybrid is good.

Proclamate (light light)

From the blackletter fonts, I have decided to pick Proclamate (light light) for further experimentation and development. The reason being of its amazing killer curves and dramatic serifs.

Blackletter Fonts

I found a few blackletter fonts online for free and also using the existing Lucida Blackletter which is pre-installed with the CS4 suite. So here they are...

Cloister Black by Dieter Steffmann_www.steffmann.de_

Bertholdr Mainzer Franktur by Peter Wiegel_www.peter-wiegel.de

There seems to be a problem with the lowercase 's' in this type, as it looks exactly like the lowercase 'f'.

Proclamate (light) by Paul Lloyd_moorstation.org/typeoasis/designers/lloyd/

This font looks very much like Bertholdr, but there is a small case 's' here unlike Bertholdr.

Lucida Blackletter by Charles Bigelow and Kris Holmes

Goeschen Fraktur by Peter Wiegel

Each blackletter font has its own beauty with the slender curves and gorgeous serifs.... it's just the matter of experimenting with them now...

The mummies and the daddies | Basketica and George are born...

(When crossing the two fonts, I noted down the characteristics of each font, like with Helvetica and Baskerville, Helvetica had the structured figure with an equal thickness all around, while Baskerville had the beautiful serif and the thin weight at the top and bottom. So using the structured figure of Helvetica and the serifs from Baskerville, I mixed those traits together. I don't know whether some features should have been shown or not, but this is my first attempt and I will gradually pick up.)

After starting to actually experiment with 2 separate typefaces and creating a typeface on the bases of traits derived from both parent fonts, here is an example of what I have mocked up. I presented this to my group for some feedback, which turned out to be very helpful. I was, and still am, using 'Frank the font' as my spring board for inspiration with the hybrid typeface, and looking at frank, it was made from one beautiful black letter font and a standard san-serif font. The problem with what I'm experimenting with is that the serif fonts I'm using, don't have bold and exaggerated features like a black letter, with the decorative bowls, ears and serifs, and maybe thats where I'm going wrong. So I want to start experimenting with black letter fonts immediately!

Also the gender issue with the hybrid came up again and the only way I could rationalise that was, if the hybrid is a serif then it is a girl and if it is a san-serif then its a boy! but I want to give this another major thinking at later point.

How will I be presenting my final font?

I was thinking of maybe having a few posters with my favourite hybrid letters and actually showing them being delivered, like how a baby is delivered. But It's still a blur to me about how I really wanna show the hybrid typeface.. maybe I could just keep it simple and display it how frank the font was displayed, with both parents on either side and the hybrid in the middle.

Early development

I have started to think about how I would approach this type breeding process. Like I have explained in my notes in the images below, which are from my sketchbook, I will be crossing a serif and san-serif font for variety. Their is a stereotype when choosing which would me the male and female parent, like the straight and structured san-serifs will be the male and the slender and elegant serifs will be the females.

I have started a list of gathering all the well known serif and san-serif fonts, like Baskerville and Helvetica, it's just the matter of breeding them now.