Font feedback

[tisimst]

That's looking great, Knut! Can't wait to see it in action.

[Knut]

Thank you so much, tisimst!

[OCTO]

Wow, that is very nice. I would like to use it. When will it be released?

[Knut]

Thanks so much, OCTO!

The short answer is: Not on this side of Christmas, at least.

The longer answer is:

The idea is for these text fonts and the music font to be seamlessly integrated. This means that any text based symbols in the music font needs to be derived from the appropriate text font and cross checked with the music font at the appropriate size. For now a pretty solid framework exists in that all basic letters and numerals of the regular and italic styles are more or less finished. However, there's still a vast number of glyphs to design and compose, and I'll probably need to design an entire bold italic style with this in mind as well. but the first release will at least se 3 styles with most, if not all intended symbols.

After that, it will be pretty easy to generate both Semibold styles and optical weights, which is the end goal in the long run.

I'm very interested in any input you all might have with regard to what symbols (except basic letters, numerals, diacritics and punctuation) you think these text fonts should or shouldn't include. I do not want to spend time on math or currency symbols that no-one will ever use in a musical context, and there might be many alternative characters I'm not thinking of which would be invaluable in a text font intended for use in music.

[Knut]

I'm also curious what you all feel about this stylized numerals compared to those more commonly used today. It's kind of an old style variation that may nevertheless be most appropriate for use in music, old and new. After all, the time signature numbers of most music fonts are still in this style, so I'm thinking it might be nice to have text fonts to go with it. But would composers like OCTO or David even consider using them in their own scores?

Skjermbilde 2016-10-28 kl. 23.38.59.png (114.88 KiB) Viewed 18719 times

[John Ruggero]

Your fonts are always beautiful, Knut, and these are no exception. I am pretty sure that the alphabetic fonts would work well, but would need to see the numerical font in action to be able to judge it in a music context.

Since you are requesting ideas, I would like to see the special symbols used in Schenkerian analysis: the bold non-italic numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 with a circumflex accent over each, as standard characters your fonts and all music fonts.

[OCTO]

But would composers like OCTO or David even consider using them in their own scores?

In general or as the Time Signatures?
Not sure about the TS, I feel them to thin.
But perhaps I would use them as text such as Flute 2.

If your fonts work perfectly on Windows and OS X I would like to use them. I have OS X and my copyist Windows, so the compatibility is the Must.

[David Ward]

But would composers like OCTO or David even consider using them in their own scores?

In general or as the Time Signatures?
Not sure about the TS, I feel them to thin.
But perhaps I would use them as text such as Flute 2.

I feel the same.

[Knut]

Your fonts are always beautiful, Knut, and these are no exception. I am pretty sure that the alphabetic fonts would work well, but would need to see the numerical font in action to be able to judge it in a music context.

Thank you so much, John. Yes, context is key. Just to be clear, the more common numeral style I was referring to is this:

Skjermbilde 2016-10-29 kl. 12.04.11.png (157.63 KiB) Viewed 18697 times

Since you are requesting ideas, I would like to see the special symbols used in Schenkerian analysis: the bold non-italic numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 with a circumflex accent over each, as standard characters your fonts and all music fonts.

That's a good idea, and pretty easy to implement. Thanks.

In general or as the Time Signatures?
Not sure about the TS, I feel them to thin.
But perhaps I would use them as text such as Flute 2.

I feel the same.

Thanks guys. The numerals above are indeed to thin to be used for time signatures. I just meant to say that they are the same style (open 4; 2 and 7 with curly top/bottom projections), and therefore might be a welcome stylistic choice for text. Tuplet numbers are often in the same style BTW.

[OCTO]

As such, in TS I would avoid these. My taste tells me that they cannot be easily readable from 2 meter distance.