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Typeface Design Workflow
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type-design-workflow.md

Type Design Workflow / Checklist

Tools

Before We Begin

  • These notes can be generally followed in order however some steps will likely be done constantly throughout the design process until the typeface matures - eg. sketching, kerning, testing etc.
  • Read the Glyphs Tutorials for understanding common functions talked about below.

Initial Outlines

Brief

  • Set yourself a brief - what problem is your typeface aiming to solve? Who is it for / not for?

Sketching

  • Warm up by drawing some basic geometric shapes
  • Draw some basic letterforms (lowercase or uppercase h, o) and sketch other letters over the top eg. b, d, n, m)
  • Consult Fernando Diaz's PDF for some starting points for common shapes

Letterforms

  • Draw out the basic shapes for h and o
  • Start constructing common components from them based on Fernando's PDF
  • Make components from these common elements to repeat around the design
  • If using serifs, construct the serifs as components and set up anchor points on each letterform
  • Design numbers
  • Design punctuation

Foreign Characters

  • Design diacritics, umlauts, other dangly bits
  • Design Greek / Cyrillic / other language variants

Optical & Cleanup

  • Check width
  • Add extrema points to all curves
  • Check and correct stroke direction on all characters

Kerning

Testing

Making A Family

  • Determine what variations you'd like to create in your typeface family.
  • Weights - how many weights and in what contrast? Eg. 5 weights: Light, Thin, Regular, Bold, Heavy
  • Italics - what style? what angle will they slant on? Eg. 10°
  • Widths - do you want to make condensed or extended character width options?
  • Display - shadow / grunge / distressed / outline variations?
  • Dingbats - do you want to create complimentary dingbats, symbols, other useful items?
  • Color - will you make the font color-compatible? Will it use emojis?

Sketching

Modifying Components

Interpolation

Round 2 (COKT)

Naming

  • Generate some names and search online to see if they're taken or not
  • Finalise the typeface name
  • Do you need to trademark the name?

Export

Marketing

Submission

Helpful Links

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