Natalya Monoline, work in progress

Questal Released

Questal is an intriguing unicase serif. The face appears rather eccentric, yet it still retains a refined character. The typeface is wider than most, but not to the degree that Aviano is extended. The font includes some interesting OpenType alternate characters to extend the quirky quality of the letterforms even further. If unicase isn’t your thing, the Questal family also includes a small caps variant for more traditional uses. Use Questal for eye-catching and distinctive logotypes or headlines.

Carta Marina

Carta Marina is based on the titling found on the famous map drawn by Olaus Magnus in 1539. The map of northern Europe took 12 years to complete, and the total size is a huge 1.7 meters tall by 1.25 meters wide. More information about the map, as well as the high resolution reference document used to create the typeface and illustration set can be found at the James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota.

The titling is slightly aged, very sturdy and elegant. Carta Marina includes a full set of OpenType alternates for every character in the English alphabet, oldstyle figures, historical forms, small caps and 64 discretionary ligatures. These ligatures are used to alter the appearance of the type so that the printing appears realistic and without any duplicate letters to detract from the antique appearance.

The Carta Marina family also includes some of the unique illustrations that give the map much of its character. It includes depictions of fanciful sea creatures, land animals and some of the inhabitants of the lands pictured.

Unicase Font

Sorry for the lack of updates for the, oh, past half month. I have been working on a new typeface called Carta Marina, based on the characters and illustrations found on that famous map. I am going to do my releases concurrently with myfonts.com now, so that is the reason for the slight delay. I also took a few trips to the Florida coast and to the Tennessee mountains, looking for a place to relocate.

The latest is a unicase. These are fairly popular these days, and I thought I would give it a whirl. I'm trying to think of a good Latin-esque name to match my naming convention.

Stratham

This is a bit late, not because there was an issue with the design. For some reason, I was unable to upload the information to the provider that handles my paypal payments and downloads, Payloadz.

Stratham is Kinshasa. I noticed when playing with the design that it had a very "English" feel to it. It reminded me of walking through Gatwick Airport. So I changed the name to something more English: Stratham.

You can learn more about the design process here at Typophile. I always appreciate the help of the folks over there. What they have to say is always useful. Special thanks to Jelmar Geertsma and Dan Reynolds for their comments and spurring me onward.

From the description:

Stratham is vigorous sans-serif inspired by the slab serif Clarendon. It is a heavy display face, and has a tangible modern British feel to it. The italic is especially dynamic and forward moving. Stratham includes OpenType titling and swash alternates, old style figures and small caps. Stratham is useful for headlines, highly legible signage or posters and works well in conjunction with the always popular Clarendon.

Kinshasa 3

Still more progress on Kinshasa. Some tweaking of pretty much every character here.

Kinshasa

I've tentatively titled this one Kinshasa.

It's starting to take on some character. I like whats going on with the K, R, etc. I need to incorporate that in the rest of the uppercase. The lower is somewhat reminiscent of Frutiger, surprisingly.

Note that my naming convention of late has been to name sans after cities, serifs in Latin or Italian and scripts after girls names.

Next from insigne: A "Clarendon Sans"

Next up on the list to do is a Clarendon Sans. At first, I was kind of wondering if it was possible. After some sketches I was satisfied this would turn out ok, but I later found that the concept has sort of already been done. See Leviathan. Despite that, I am going to move forward. I think there are few twists I can run it's direction.

Madeleine Released

Madeleine is an open script face with influence from early 50's scripts. The stroke doesn't have much variation, and the characters are wide and flowing. The script also features OpenType end swashes and discretionary ligatures to extend the twirling and fluid nature of the script. This mischievous script is useful for informal invitations, scrap booking or whenever you need a retro look.

Madeleine Progress 3

I have altered the stroke on Madeleine to be more "50's." In my research I didn't find a lot of stroke variation. Also, the letter forms are more consistent. I have abandoned the idea for a more spontaneous script. It's important to note that the idea was a script inspired by 50's scripts; not a complete duplication. Still, I think this stroke looks better. I found some neat reference material, so I may do a truly 50's script in the future. I think that 50's-esque design is coming back a bit. Take a look at some of Target's advertising. As a whole, they had some very interesting design in those days.

It's interesting to compare the experience of designing Lorelei vs. Madeleine vs. Asturias. Strangely enough, the experience was a lot more like Asturias. I began with an idea for a more spontaneous and irregular script and found I had to dial it back. I think that Lorelei is fairly spontaneous. I'm still trying to figure out how Lorelei worked in that form but Madeleine doesn't.

I'm trying to bring this blog more towards progress, as originally intended, instead of my general commentary on design/world affairs.

Madeleine Progress 2

I am still not really happy with this so far. The primary issue is that the characters do not appear to be working correctly together. The intention was to accentuate the sporadic nature of the script, but it seems to be working to strongly against the overall cohesion of the typeface.

Based on the structure of the sentence above, I find it extremely likely that I have been watching far too much Stargate Atlantis.

50's Inspired Piece

I am working on a 50's inspired script. I recently found this great blog: Today's Inspiration. Some really great illustrations from the past. I love to see great illustrated work, and the fact that a fair number of them include some script ideas is just bonus points. Enjoy.

Nanumunga

From the description: Insigne is pleased to release Nanumunga, inspired by the carefree antics of tropical fish. Designers will find this typeface is useful whenever a relaxed and lighthearted typeface is required. Nanumunga is a versatile face. The font includes small caps and a shadow alternate for titling. Some potential uses are advertising for children’s products, tropical destinations, or just whenever you need a slightly different “cartoon” look.

Valfieris Aged Released

From the description: Valfieris Aged looks as though it just came off a antique printing press. Ink has pooled in the serifs and on the corners, and the metal did not make full contact with the paper in center of the letters. Valfieris Aged includes a full set of OpenType alternates for every character in the English alphabet, swash alternates, ending swashes, oldstyle figures, historical forms, small caps and 64 discretionary ligatures. These ligatures are used to alter the appearance of the type so that the printing appears realistic and without any duplicate letters to detract from the antique appearance.

Upcoming from insigne

Information on new typefaces has been a little light around here; I've got two in the works.


The first is a playful sans-serif. I do enjoy doing these light hearted fonts every once in awhile.


The next is a grungy version of Valfieris.

insigne Abstractions

Insigne Abstractions is a break from working with letterforms and a chance to play with pure abstraction. These ornaments are purely nonrepresentational, and are not letterforms. The abstractions are organic, and some would describe them as magnifications of microorganisms in black and white. There are 72 different ornaments this package. Some potential uses for these ornaments include alien alphabets, navigation buttons for a website, decorative elements, inspiration for logos or background textures.

Arendahl Released

Arendahl is a natural-looking, irregular connected handwriting script. The script has a fluctuating baseline and swirling ending swashes to give the lettering a soothing flow. Arendahl utilizes OpenType ligatures and alternates to prevent duplicate letterforms, and automatically substitutes the best letter combination or word glyph. Arendahl includes 64 discretionary ligatures based on the most common pairs in the English language, a full set of alternates for every English letter, ending swashes and ornaments. The Arendahl family is made up of eight fonts, including an alternate, bold weights and script versions.

More information here.

Arendahl Round 1

I haven't been posting much; a few things have come up, from my computer dying on me to getting in a car accident. I am going to make a few progress posts so you can see the evolution of Arendahl so far.

Round 1 (above). It was too aggressive, and more "Pirates of the Caribbean" than elegant and smooth.

As of 10:00 pm on Sunday, this is what Arendahl looks like. There are 64 auto ligatures in this one, based on the most common letter pairs in the English language, and a full set of alternates. In addition to the opentype alternates, there will be another alternate font, for a total of eight fonts, including the bold weight and the "script" version.

Rugged Script

The next insigne release will be another script, this one quite rugged looking. I apologize for the lack of progress updates; I have been experimenting with a new technique. It has taken some time to get everything to work as I would like it, but I finally have it nailed down and am moving into full scale production. I have also had a few computer hardware issues to deal with. I hope to have some samples soon.

Aviano Titling Released

Aviano is an extended titling face with influence from the power and timeless beauty of classical letterforms. Aviano features extended characters for a formal feel, sharp, powerful looking serifs and geometric and consistent letterforms. Aviano is named for a small town at the base of the Alps in northern Italy. Use Aviano as an alternative to Trajan.

Purchase Aviano

Aviano Titling Round Two

Thanks to the folks at Typophile, I’ve been working out some of the kinks with Aviano. There were some definite issues with the extension. I think I have worked those out for now, but there are a few letters (STZ) that need some more “help.” Additionally, the numbers need to be balanced out a bit more.

Still, I am pretty happy with this project so far. I greatly appreciate the help of a few extra eyes as well.

Aviano Titling Initial Characters

Aviano is an extended all caps face inspired by Trajan. I wanted the face to have extended letterforms for a more “formal” look, and also more geometric and consistent letterforms. This is some early experimentation.

Chennai Released

From the description: Chennai is a simplified sans-serif with a full complement of OpenType alternates. The characters are rounded, slightly extended and geometric. The OpenType alternates greatly complement the face. The primary version is more simplified, while the alternate is more traditional. These two “versions” are designed be used in conjunction with one another. For example, the primary version can be used for headings, while the alternate, with its stems and more traditional characters, can be used for highly legible body copy. Please see the PDF sample. Use Chennai whenever you need a contemporary and versatile sans serif.

Chennai Refined Characters

I received some excellent comments regarding the direction of this face. Someone felt that there was something that reminded them of Comic Sans (an unfortunate comparison) I hadn’t really thought about Comic Sans, but could see the point. I think that there IS a place somewhere between Comic Sans and VAG Rounded. One influence is Futura, which probably gives it a slightly “childlike” quality. There was also some discussion about the lowercase “e.” I did some experimentation with it, but I still think it works as is. Does anyone think the e sticks out to much?

Due to the rounded forms, there was more difficulty than normal getting characters not to “float” above the baseline. I think I have the baseline float worked out better.

I made a decision that the more simplified forms will be the dominant ones. To get to the more traditional forms you will have to turn OpenType swash on. How does everyone feel about that? Please ignore the temporary spacing. I’m primarily looking for letterform comments.

Chennai Initial Characters

This one will be slightly wider than most sans serif faces, but not too much. The endings will be rounded, a recent design trend that has been catching on. I noticed t-mobile has started using VAG rounded here in the states and that got the wheels turning. GE commissioned their own face, using VAG rounded as the base. What is unique about Chennai, as it is tentatively titled, is by using the OpenType stylistic alternates you can change how the face looks. I have always incorporated stylistic alternates in my typefaces, but they work especially well for this typeface. You can see an example above. For example, you could use the more simplified version for headings, but the alternate for text. To be honest, I haven’t decided which version will be dominant.

More on the GE branding.

Koelle Ornaments

Koelle Ornaments is complete! From the description: The Koelle Ornaments series is based on the etchings of Chris Koelle of Portland Studios. This is the second collaboration between insigne and Portland Studios; the first yielded the inky and active script Blue Goblet. Chris has a unique style where he “frames” his work with small icons related to the story or subject. These are now available as Koelle ornaments. Koelle Ornaments have a gritty, used appearance, and have a late 70’s stylistic feel to them.

There are 145 highly detailed illustrations in the entire pack, separated into four different fonts. These illustrations can be resized without any loss of quality, and can be easily converted to outlines and modified. Some of the ornaments have a Christian theme, while others are more generic.

To view what ornaments are available and the keys they map to, please view the sample pdf. The sample .pdf is an excellent reference guide, and we encourage you to print it out to quickly refer to your favorite ornaments.

Sample PDF (2MB)

Purchase options and more information.

Koelle Illustrations

For my next project, I will be working on digitizing a series of illustrations/etchings from Chris Koelle of Portland Studios. This is my second collaboration with Portland, and I was lucky to go to college with these talented illustrators. Our first collaboration resulted in the inky and playful script Blue Goblet. Chris has a unique style where he “frames” his work with small icons related to the story or subject. Recently, the guys at Portland Studios have been commissioned to create some Christian themed art that is available for purchase, and you can see an example of Chris's style on 12stoneart.

These illustrations are so detailed, when I try to compile the font as OpenType FontLab crashes! Thankfully, TrueType has no such problem, and both Macs and PCs can use the format. To give you a taste of what is to come, here are a few of my favorite “icons” that will be available in dingbat-like format. Some of them have a Christian theme, and some are more generic so I will be separating the two into their own typefaces. The Christian themed one should come in handy for church groups, and as you can see the generic ones work great just standing alone.

Lorelei Released

Insigne is pleased to announce that Lorelei is now available for purchase. Lorelei is an exuberant and bouncy script. The ink seems to be slathered onto the surface in a casual and spontaneous manner, making for a flowing and feminine script that is perfect for invitations or greeting cards. The script also contains a large number of OpenType alternates and ligatures to extend the impulsive nature of the lettering. Lorelei is named for a young German maiden that supposedly threw herself into the Rhine. For more information and purchase options, please visit insigne.

Informal Script Font Progress

As you can see, things are coming along with the "Informal Script Font." I will name it this evening.

Informal Script Font, Initial Characters and Commentary.

The next release from insigne will be an informal script font. For those just now tuning in, insigne releases at least one script font a month. The market demands it, so we must comply. Actually, it's amazing what you can learn from a script; the variations on the letterforms can sometimes work in unusual settings. "Upright Italics" are all the rage now days, and unique letterforms can actually enhance legibility. I think I will write an extended feature on the "upright Italics" in coming days, so stay tuned.