Gaga RegularThis FontStruction was selected by FontStruct staff.This%20FontStruction%20was%20selected%20by%20FontStruct%20staff.

by afrojet
cloned from Gaga Stencil by afrojet


Details

Description:
Experimenting with reverse glyph building (knockouts) to create a modular monoline font with more fluid, rounded shapes. A work in progress. I would appreciate any and all feedback, suggestions, etc.
Stats:
65 characters, 31 downloads
Created:
Tue, 23rd June, 9:41 PM 2009
Last Edit:
Mon, 29th June, 4:42 PM 2009
Permalink:
http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/fontstructions/show/196695
Tags:
Monoline, Sans, Experiment, Reverse, Negative, Knockout
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  • Currently 7.73698
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Discussion

afrojet
afrojet Wed, 24th June, 6:09 AM

thalamic
thalamic Wed, 24th June, 12:55 PM

It's brilliant how you create the proper geometric curve. And with that lowercase s, you definitively rest your case. Very well done.

afrojet
afrojet Wed, 24th June, 1:50 PM

I reduced the width to the lowercase 'f' to increase the flow and to make the letter spacing better out-of-the-fontstruct-box. Thinking I might do the same for the lowercase 't' and 'l'.

I reduced the width to the lowercase 'f' to increase the flow and to make the letter spacing better out-of-the-fontstruct-box. Thinking I might do the same for the lowercase 't' and 'l'.
afrojet
afrojet Wed, 24th June, 4:27 PM

Reduced the width of: f, t, r, l, and 7.

Reduced the width of: f, t, r, l, and 7.
geneus1
geneus1 Thu, 25th June, 9:13 AM

Nicely done. There are more curve possibilities when drawing in negative space, especially in double scale. It's kind of like the difference between painting and etching or carving.

I have several 'knockout' fonstructions including one that is similar to Gaga, except the height my uppercase S is equal to the height of of your lowercase s. This forced a different methodology of dealing with the merging of the arm and leg joints as seen on your K, because it revealed a brick limitation. It is interesting how you used the limitation on the B, K, R, and k to create functional design elements. I'll have to post a sample to show you what I mean on mine. Great exploration here and in the stencil version.

aphoria
aphoria Thu, 25th June, 1:45 PM

This is awesome. Thalamic is right on about the s, it's beautiful.

The only ones that I'm unsure about are the B, K, R, and k. Something about the splits in the middle doesn't feel quite right.

And, I read the 8 as a 0 at first.

afrojet
afrojet Thu, 25th June, 3:57 PM

@geneus Gaga originally started out as one combined lowercase font, with the stencil (lowercase) version in the uppercase position and this "regular" version in the lowercase position. The font can get really interesting and fun when you begin to mix the two styles together (which was easier to do when it was one font). Eventually however, I decided that it would be worthwhile to give both versions an uppercase and that resulted in splitting the two apart.

This technique offers a lot of possibilities/variations. I'd love to see where it took you. Post some samples.

I really appreciate your critique @aphoria. I think the goal of The Gaga font series is to focus this technique towards building a true geometric monoline font with no compromises (or, should I say no contrast?). For good or ill, the B, K, & R are the by-product of that 'no compromise' position (and Fontstruct limitations) and yet, ultimately, my hope would be that it's that very limitation that injects some personality into this font.

geneus1
geneus1 Thu, 25th June, 7:35 PM

In the sample below, it was in the creation of the B that the limitation of merging the middle joints was revealed . In order to work around it, I inserted slits for the B, K, R, and X. This made them stand out against the rest of the letters, so I just inserted the slits wherever appropriate on the remainder of glyphs, especially the M and W. Although a little unorthodox, your solutions are clean and consistent.

In the sample below, it was in the creation of the B that the limitation of merging the middle joints was revealed . In order to work around it, I inserted slits for the B, K, R, and X. This made them stand out against the rest of the letters, so I just inserted the slits wherever appropriate on the remainder of glyphs, especially the M and W. Although a little unorthodox, your solutions are clean and consistent.
intaglio
intaglio Thu, 25th June, 10:18 PM

Wow. This is superb. Re B,K,R: it's interesting, isn't it, that the K is more successful than the other two. I guess because it's open-ended. I find it (what I'd call the compensatory influence of the eye) a source of neverending surprise.

afrojet
afrojet Thu, 25th June, 10:30 PM

@Geneus Very nice Gene. The slits add a dynamic element. I attempted using slits and they eventually evolved into the stencil version. And for awhile I had the same 'X' that you have in your sample.

I suppose what we would need to connect all these arms and legs would be the reverse of these bricks.

@Geneus Very nice Gene. The slits add a dynamic element. I attempted using slits and they eventually evolved into the stencil version. And for awhile I had the same 'X' that you have in your sample. <br/> <br/>I suppose what we would need to connect all these arms and legs would be the reverse of these bricks.
saberrider
saberrider Sun, 28th June, 3:34 AM

A few months I tried the reverse glyph building as you call it as well. At the time I thought it would be a great new achievement and I got a little disappointed when I didn't get the reactions I hoped for. I also had the idea of inverting the cutouts in illustrator to receive a regular letter. Well anyway a little later I could see the flaws that came with that technique. You're on a good way avoiding some of them. So it might be helpful if you take a look at my result, maybe that way you can avoid further flaws. You're also free to get inspirated if you like. ;)

Oh and here's the link:
http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/fontstructions/show/pluto_1

and also a sample

A few months I tried the reverse glyph building as you call it as well. At the time I thought it would be a great new achievement and I got a little disappointed when I didn't get the reactions I hoped for. I also had the idea of inverting the cutouts in illustrator to receive a regular letter. Well anyway a little later I could see the flaws that came with that technique. You're on a good way avoiding some of them. So it might be helpful if you take a look at my result, maybe that way you can avoid further flaws. You're also free to get inspirated if you like. ;) <br/> <br/>Oh and here's the link: <br/>http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/fontstructions/show/pluto_1 <br/> <br/>and also a sample
saberrider
saberrider Sun, 28th June, 3:43 AM

Also I constructed my avatar they way you did the lower case s. It's propably the most "perfect" letter you can fontstruct this way.

afrojet
afrojet Sun, 28th June, 5:07 AM

hey Saber, thanks for the comment and pointing me towards pluto. I did a search when I was putting Gaga together to see if there were other examples of this technique on Fontstruct that I could study. Unfortunately, I didn't come across pluto. I was searching for 'reverse', 'negative' and 'knockout'. And I can see that none of those words are in your tags.

I'm liking your Illustrator idea. Once you've inverted the cuts in Illustrator you can then take the positive glyphs and copy them into FontLab. Here's a video tutorial for creating and importing illustrator glyphs into Fontlab.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOTLwmmrv8s

Maybe one day a future version of Fontstruct will make it possible to build a font in reverse, and then, with the click of a button, create a positive version.

gferreira
gferreira Mon, 29th June, 7:14 AM

Congratulations! FontStruct Staff have deemed your FontStruction worthy of special mention. “Gaga Regular” is now a Top Pick.

geneus1
geneus1 Mon, 29th June, 7:57 AM

@saberrider: Forgot about Pluto. I wondered if the S on your avatar was fontstructed.

@afrojet: Congrats on the great

I think these bricks would go a long way in creating normalized versions:

@saberrider: Forgot about Pluto. I wondered if the S on your avatar was fontstructed. <br/> <br/>@afrojet: Congrats on the great <a href="http://fontfeed.com/archives/tag/focus-on-fontstructors/"article!</a> <br/> <br/>I think these bricks would go a long way in creating normalized versions:
geneus1
geneus1 Mon, 29th June, 8:00 AM

Last comment was supposed to say great article with the link to http://fontfeed.com/archives/tag/focus-on-fontstructors/

Last comment was supposed to say great article with the link to http://fontfeed.com/archives/tag/focus-on-fontstructors/
afrojet
afrojet Mon, 29th June, 1:09 PM

Thanks @geneus. The interview was fun to do. I'm really looking forward to reading future interviews about my fellow Compatriots of the Brick. And that includes an interview with the diabolical one known to us as Geneus1 but known to his mother as Gene.

Love the brick idea. Do you think it would be possible to make elegant joins with those bricks using 2X2 filtering?

Thanks @geneus. The interview was fun to do. I'm really looking forward to reading future interviews about my fellow Compatriots of the Brick. And that includes an interview with the diabolical one known to us as Geneus1 but known to his mother as Gene. <br/> <br/>Love the brick idea. Do you think it would be possible to make elegant joins with those bricks using 2X2 filtering?
geneus1
geneus1 Thu, 2nd July, 5:19 AM

@afrojet: Re: Interview. That would be a sweetbelly freakdown.

Definitely those curves would be possible. Believe it or not, I already have several fonts sketched out using these non-existent bricks.

intaglio
intaglio Thu, 2nd July, 11:37 AM

Mr Meek must feel like a harassed mother gannet.

He who squawks loudest. Now about that mythical between angle brick....

cayo
cayo Sat, 11th July, 5:10 PM

Not only do I love this fontstruction, but I also enjoy how it started such a nice discussion about bricks that I´m also dreaming they will come included in the future. Where do I sign the petition?