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I’m looking at changing the default form of Ŋ in MD IO, to reflect the greater number of speakers using the ‘lowercase-like’ form....

I’m looking at changing the default form of Ŋ in MD IO, to reflect the greater number of speakers using the ‘lowercase-like’ form. Does anyone have more info about whether the descending variant (B) is preferred over one which sits on the baseline?

I’m still making progress on IO’s next update, which includes a significant number of drawing improvements across the glyph set.To be...

I’m still making progress on IO’s next update, which includes a significant number of drawing improvements across the glyph set.

To be released when it’s ready — I’m hoping these will be the last drawing changes to the basic character set, so I’m taking my time to get them right.

Super nice to see @astro using MD IO in their updated type system! https://astro.build/blog/welcome-world/

Super nice to see @astro using MD IO in their updated type system!
https://astro.build/blog/welcome-world/

cool idea: an exact clone of Wikipedia but where the bizarre “straight quotes only” rule doesn’t apply

cool idea: an exact clone of Wikipedia but where the bizarre “straight quotes only” rule doesn’t apply

A good morning is one where I get to draw interrobangs

A good morning is one where I get to draw interrobangs

Sometimes I think I’ve made a nice typeface, and then I look at Freight again and realise I have not.

Sometimes I think I’ve made a nice typeface, and then I look at Freight again and realise I have not.

Next week marks three years since I started Mass-Driver.One of the things I’ve been most surprised by is how quickly *anything* that...

Next week marks three years since I started Mass-Driver.

One of the things I’ve been most surprised by is how quickly *anything* that isn’t standardised starts to drift. Today I’m working on a unified template for PDF specimens, which have somehow ended up having more different versions than there are typefaces.

(Incidentally, if you have any strong feelings about what should or shouldn’t be in a PDF specimen, I would love to hear your thoughts)

Cincinnati Type Foundry’s Gothic №2 (from an 1888 specimen, above), and MD Primer (below).While I’m hesitant to use the term ‘genre...

Cincinnati Type Foundry’s Gothic №2 (from an 1888 specimen, above), and MD Primer (below).

While I’m hesitant to use the term ‘genre revival’ in reference to MD Primer, at its core it’s a tribute to the features I love most about 19th century grotesks. The inconsistent constructions, looming capitals and superfluous swashes, redrawn in a way that’s honest to the digital material of contemporary type.

(More info about the process here: https://mass-driver.com/article/md-primer-the-pursuit-of-imperfection)

The next update for MD IO may or may not include ligatures (particularly for programming), and I’m keen to hear from anyone who either...

The next update for MD IO may or may not include ligatures (particularly for programming), and I’m keen to hear from anyone who either uses or avoids them in monospace typefaces.

IO technically already includes a handful of ligatures — they’re just not accessible with OpenType features. These single-width glyphs (below) are instead used to distinguish ligature *codepoints* (like U+FB01 ‘fi’) from their component characters (‘f’ and ‘i’).

My most recent release, MD Polychrome is a #typeface designed to reference the MICR-style ‘retro high-tech’ typefaces of the late ’60s...

My most recent release, MD Polychrome is a #typeface designed to reference the MICR-style ‘retro high-tech’ typefaces of the late ’60s and early ’70s.

Unlike those designs, however, it’s been carefully drawn in a natively digital format, and supports 400+ (Latin-based) languages — so it’s actually ready for contemporary uses, too.

Specimen site: https://polychrome.mass-driver.com
Licensing/trials: https://mass-driver.com/typefaces/md-polychrome

Very much still a work in progress — a vaguely Caslonesque text #typeface I’ve been drawing recently, with a bit more Dutch...

Very much still a work in progress — a vaguely Caslonesque text #typeface I’ve been drawing recently, with a bit more Dutch (Fleischman/Rosart/etc.) flavour.

Not every typeface can (or should!) be built on this strict 3-axis foundation of weight, width and slant. But when I set out to design MD...

Not every typeface can (or should!) be built on this strict 3-axis foundation of weight, width and slant. But when I set out to design MD System — with the goal of creating “my ideal workhorse sans” — one of the most important features was predictability.

And after working with it almost every day for 3+ years, I still find searching for the right style refreshingly boring.

(More info here, with free trials also available: https://mass-driver.com/typefaces/md-system)

Fine-tuning the tracking of a logotype earlier, and it turns out the difference between “way too loose” and “perfect” is about six...

Fine-tuning the tracking of a logotype earlier, and it turns out the difference between “way too loose” and “perfect” is about six thousandths of an em

What are people using for scripting font builds (Glyphs3/UFO3 → OTF + VF)?I’m trying to find a solution that doesn’t involve...

What are people using for scripting font builds (Glyphs3/UFO3 → OTF + VF)?

I’m trying to find a solution that doesn’t involve duplicating data or managing multiple font info sources

Goed nieuws! https://mass-driver.com now supports payments with iDEAL for customers here in the Netherlands.(I’m looking into supporting...

Goed nieuws! https://mass-driver.com now supports payments with iDEAL for customers here in the Netherlands.

(I’m looking into supporting Apple Pay as well, but that involves some extra paperwork first.)

Thanks @tomconroy for adding support for this on the backend!

From mid-2020 — this was the first (digital) draft of the typeface that eventually became MD Primer. A condensed titling sans...

From mid-2020 — this was the first (digital) draft of the typeface that eventually became MD Primer. A condensed titling sans (potentially all-caps only), though it still had much of the same 19th-century influence.

Supposedly this and off-by-one errors are the only three jokes in computer science.(This typeface, MD IO, is designed first and foremost to...

Supposedly this and off-by-one errors are the only three jokes in computer science.

(This typeface, MD IO, is designed first and foremost to be legible. But I did want the ultra bold italic caps to be a bit more expressive, too — hence the strictly orthogonal stroke endings, and the fact that the weight goes so high in the first place.)

#Type

Devastated. Was about to announce my type foundry’s brand new slogan, only to learn Albert Heijn is already using it.

Devastated. Was about to announce my type foundry’s brand new slogan, only to learn Albert Heijn is already using it.

By “mostly pure CSS” I mean the cube itself is entirely CSS, but the interactivity is done with Vue.

By “mostly pure CSS” I mean the cube itself is entirely CSS, but the interactivity is done with Vue.

I’m still rather pleased with this (mostly pure CSS) cube visualiser for MD System, my workhorse grotesque design. The typeface has three...

I’m still rather pleased with this (mostly pure CSS) cube visualiser for MD System, my workhorse grotesque design.

The typeface has three variable axes — weight, width, and slant — which neatly correspond to the X, Y and Z axes of a cube: any point within the cube is a valid style of the typeface.

Try it yourself on the specimen website: https://system.mass-driver.com

#TypeDesign #VariableFonts #Fonts #CSS