02. Components in Glyphs / Fontra

Introduction

For this part of the class, we (Jack and I), will give short demos specifically on components in Glyphs and Fontra, and answer any of your current technical questions.

What We Will Cover

For this exercise we'll cover using components and how they work in both Glyphs and Fontra. You'll learn how to create and decompose components, the limits of manipulating them.

Specific Tutorials

Glyphs →

Fontra →

Some References

Jonathan Barnbrook → Prozac → An alphabet composed of only six shapes Jonathan Barnbrook Prozac screenshot


Tauba Auerbach → Type Specimen Posters → Her Posters showing an alphabet and the shapes used to compose it Tauba Auerbach Type Specimen poster example Tauba Auerbach Type Specimen poster example Tauba Auerbach Type Specimen poster example


(aside this is a super sick project by Tauba Auerbach and Cameron Mesirow)

MD Thermochrome from Mass Driver → A typeface meant to eveoke dot-matrix and thermal printer fonts with modern features and optical corrections MD Thermochrome Type Specimen Screenshot MD Thermochrome Type Specimen Screenshot


BianZhiDai by Xiaoyuan Gao(notyourtype foundry) → image of the text "Bitter Sweet Home" in the typeface BianZhiDai image of the text "Bitter Sweet Home" in the typeface BianZhiDai image of the text "Bitter Sweet Home" in the typeface BianZhiDai


Homework

  • Create (at least) an entire alphabet, in one case using (at least two) components
  • Export your font as an .otf or .ttf
  • Create a raster image, that is 11in. by 17in. of a single pangram (black and white)
  • Place your components in the numeric characters (i.e. if you have four components they would go into 1 - 4 respectively)