Erik Spiekermann

Little Guidance To Make Your First Font

As suggested by our tutors I looked at an article by Erik Spiekermann's 'Little guidance to make your first font' to help me to deal with my Alphabet Soup brief alphabets. Heres some tips I learnt/revised: 

• Mess around a lot with letterforms- 'type brainstorm'  
• Be 'hands on' your hands will provide special abilities that computers don't do- no constraints.
• Begin with lowercase. Choose a word or short phrase that includes a good representative sample of the characters that demonstrates well the overall feel of the typeface. Then move to capitals 
• Is it type or lettering? because they are both different things. Type works as a set whereas lettering only works in a single specified way.
• Test as you go (crit feedback) see whats working and whats not working
• Keep your alphabets separate the capitals, lowercase, figures (numbers and glyphs) are all separate things. Kerning must be your last resort. 
• Seek professional help, look at books attend workshops etc.