For as long as I remember, I was fascinated with segmented typography – not quite vectors, not quite pixels.
Inspired by a conversation with @covrter and @enf I made a little typing (and painting!) playground. Maybe you’ll like it.
aresluna.org/segmented-type/
Inspired by a conversation with @covrter and @enf I made a little typing (and painting!) playground. Maybe you’ll like it.
aresluna.org/segmented-type/
Just added: a 66-segment font from Vienna metro, as illustrated in this book: books.google.com/books?id=_4ZMC…, via @startled.
Fun stuff to try!
1. You can draw with your mouse or finger! If you do it, switching between the fonts will respect and not destroy your work. (Unless you draw an existing letter, which will be “OCR-ed.”)
My favourite example so far:
1. You can draw with your mouse or finger! If you do it, switching between the fonts will respect and not destroy your work. (Unless you draw an existing letter, which will be “OCR-ed.”)
My favourite example so far:
2. You can press space many times to give yourself a nice canvas to draw, and draw across characters.
3. If you type on desktop, type a longer phrase, and then hold backspace and see them disappear in a pleasing fashion.
4. Or, if you type on mobile, and it mirrors the input box below, try to write a longer word that heavily autocorrects after you’re done – and see it animate above.
5. On desktop, hold Ctrl to “type in place” and have the new letter replace the previous one. It’s fun to see relationship between letters this way (e.g. O and Q, P and R, 0 and O, and so on).
This is the Figma file with all the vectors in case you’re interested in engaging this way: figma.com/file/MNtvZ9k1t…
This is a great exploration. Even with few segments at hand, you can start approaching many letters in different ways and thinking of the personality of your font:
For that reason, I always liked pixel fonts as a way to introduce people to type design. You can learn basic lessons and recover from mistakes so quickly. (For example, the distance between “Crap, I forgot to make room for descenders” to making that room can be just minutes.)
Oh my god.
I think I just learned the lesson Will Wright learned when the level editor for another game became more interesting than the game itself: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity_(…
(Or: Build canvases, not demos.)
(Or: Build canvases, not demos.)
I wonder if this is the first time in history someone make normal and bold fonts in 14/16 segments.
Added two more fonts showing different ways of approaching the same problem.
I hope someone can help me find a 20-something segment system so that we have every decade represented!
aresluna.org/segmented-type/
I hope someone can help me find a 20-something segment system so that we have every decade represented!
aresluna.org/segmented-type/
And now, following up on this thread in real life.
I love that people are trying to create emoticons/emoji with this.
