![]() Typical fixed-width fonts can go only so bold before they turn into a blob. Hoefler explains that adapting the monospaced typeface to be more proportional allowed them to create more weights. And indeed, Operator 1 feels more relaxed, as though the letters have been freed from their constraining digital boxes. Typically, it wouldn’t be a big deal for the capital I or lowercase l to be narrower than other letters. “The more you close in those counter spaces, the more blobby they look,” Clymer says. These visual quirks often translate to a highly legible typeface on screen. They frequently feature large apertures and pronounced counter spaces. The result is letters that appear stretched or squashed. Clymer says many of these stylistic choices were an effort to get the letters to fill enough space. ![]() The apertures of the lowercase a and e flare slightly, giving the typeface the feel, if not the look, of a typewriter font. The curves of the S flatten, instead of bending smoothly. The strokes of the W and M, for example, bow slightly outward, as though squished into a just-too-small box. “We wanted to give the feeling that these shapes were bent, more than they were drawn,” Clymer explains. It all feels slightly off, which is by design. In its italic cut, which is the weirdest cut of all, there's a mixture of Roman and cursive letter forms. Its letters have subtle variations in weight. Both are, admittedly, unusual, but Operator Mono is especially so. Operator comes in two families: Operator and Operator Mono. “We really try to design things that can live outside of time,” he says. His company’s designs have a history of becoming ubiquitous a monospaced font felt to him faddish and dated, with few use cases. Truth be told, foundry owner Jonathan Hoefler never had much interest in creating a fixed-width typeface. So you may be surprised to learn that Operator, the latest creation by acclaimed type foundry Hoefler & Co., is a typewriter typeface. Few graphic designers reach for a fixed-width typeface unless they're after a very particular stylistic effect. A capital W, for example, is naturally wider than a lowercase l, and most contemporary typefaces reflect that. The extinction of the typewriter made typography less rigid and more proportional. It helps explain why these, and other, so-called monospaced fonts are so rarely used today. Courier, Consolas, Monaco-they all leave a lot to be desired in the personality department. Despite their drastically different shapes, if they're from a typewriter font, they'll occupy the same horizontal space.Ī typewriter font is distinguishable, in other words, by a decidedly boring visual quality: predictability. I, J, M, X-take a ruler and measure them. The type bars on typewriters are all of uniform width, and so too are the letters they impress upon the page (or, more likely, the screen). A typewriter font is easy to identify just compare the width of its letterforms.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |