Custom Type
It was about 6 months ago that I started digging into FontStruct and attempting to create type with the tool. I quickly discovered that I was not going to be able to design anything too humanistic, but I did find something it could do. All the rules and concepts behind Wim Crouwel’s New Alphabet fit perfectly within the capabilities of this online font creation tool. I started by recreating New Alphabet and then modifying it to create my own Pentagrid Alphabet.
I recently got a chance to go back to that Pentagrid design and use it for a brochure project (as seen in the spread above). I made some more modifications to Pentagrid and came up with Pentagrid v2. No longer monowidth, still one case only, and what I determined to be far more legible than either New Alphabet or Pentagrid. Pentagrid, like it’s predecessors, uses only 45 and 90 degree angles and works at points sizes as small as 8 (in case you’re looking for a pixel font).
I found it exciting and satisfying to use a completely custom designed typeface in my own design work and thought it would be nice to share it freely in case anyone else could find it useful in their own work. It’s definitely not meant for body copy or suitable for all situations, but I’ve found that in specific circumstances when used in conjunction with a nice neutral sans-serif, it can get the job done.
I guess the next step for me and custom type is to finish that geometric sans-serif that’s been sitting in an illustrator file for so long and attempt to turn it into a font.
