singspiel font

the singspiel font marks a visual departure from the font series released on this site with the re-introduction of the familiar lower case cross t.

For those unfamiliar with the dyslexic fonts from this site, some history..

asymmetric t

over the course of this past year, the reversed asymmetric lower case t became the uniquely defining glyph for the dyslexic font variants released since its inception.

Despite its unfamiliar glyph shape—doubly so, being not only asymmetric but reversed—the sweeping rise imparted by the right side stem to following cap height glyphs (notably, the high frequency th bigram) quickly established itself as part of the core set of standard dyslexic glyphs—both visually appealing (to these biased eyes), as well as, strikingly unique, a glyph reduced to its essence.

q hook

shortly after the grotesq font was introduced, the grotesque font was created with the hook of the lower case q significantly extended into the adjacent character cell, further distinguishing itself from the other non-mirrored lower case b d p glyphs..

The grotesque font quickly established itself as my default ereader font and all was well in font land :-) until the..

extended cross t

forever “making things better”, the q hook extension and the recently re-introduced (and modified) extended f piqued thoughts about addressing the lack of a cross t in the current font rotation. Hence, it’s re-introduction, both as an homage to my lasting fondness for the Futura font and the fact that many, if not most people, probably find the reversed asymmetric t too radical a glyph alteration.

One of the reasons the lower case cross t has not been prevalent in this site’s font journey is that visually the x-height portion of its stem felt too stubby or short (despite its short neck—to these eyes—and the desirable “air” around the glyph), the asymmetric t being more distinct with the same stem height while providing a pleasing visual movement.

Enter the extended stem. First attempts with a y depth descender (similar to the extended lower case f) felt overly visually pronounced with the frequency of the letter. Graduated reductions in the descender depth ultimately arrived at a total stem length equal to the cap height of the typeface..

This glyph shape retains the sweeping rise produced by the reversed asymmetric lower case t—visually, the loss of the right side stem proximity to its adjacent letter is offset by the subtle descender, providing both a top and bottom visual riser to the following letter—whilst importantly, returning the all familiar glyph shape.

singspiel

Despite only a single glyph change from the grotesque font, it is a typeface with a wavelike visual rhythm. This typeface also departs from past naming conventions in not containing the glyph of significance—its name was conjured up during the first iterations of the typeface (glyph) with the full y descender depth because of the musical note like impression the pronounced descender’s imparted to the printed line. (i fully intended to come up with a typeface name including the t but singspiel’s musical reference stuck :-)

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The reversed asymmetric t has been so predominant in my ereader usage the past year, i have been surprised by how readily these eyes have welcomed the familiar cross t. The cap height stem length allows the glyph to be distinct without being visually intrusive—and feels more “balanced” for it—yet contributing to a pleasant visual rhythm.

As always, YMMV.

repos

This font may be found on OneDrive.