A Knotty Font Review for PCWorld.com

My ancestors would have appreciated the styling behind Tibor Lantos's fonstruction, Rivendell. I certainly gained a new admiration for Rob Meek's font building ap. 

To read the review and download Rivendell, click on the image at left. What to do with a style like this? The graphic here, simple as it is, graced this year's studio drink coaster.

PS. I love comments. To make a comment here, click on the Post a Comment link below and look for the Submit button—labeled Create Post—at the top of the comments page along with a Preview Post button.

Studio Update: Phatzzo & Bat Country Reviewed

I should label this entry the bi-weekly update since I've been away in Philadelphia and missed posting last week. Two new font reviews were posted while I was away. Meet Phatzzo and Bat Country—both novelty fonts from British designers.

Click on the names above to read my reviews at PCWorld.com…after a brief ad, sorry. You'll find a link with each review to download the fonts for free. Go write something with them! (Oops, do I sound like your Mom?)

Be sure to read the license information that comes with each font. Designers Ray Meadows and Laurie Jackson chose Creative Commons Licenses which allows you and me to use their fonts in a variety of ways without paying a fee and without a letter from their lawyers. Pretty darn generous considering the work involved.

How much work exactly? The gentlemen spent hours, days, weeks even, staring at the screen while moving tiny building blocks around in Fontstruct. What's this Fontstruct? Glad you asked. It's a marvelous, witty, not-hard-to-learn font building tool developed by typographer Ron Meek and the folks at Fontshop.

You'll find the details here. Register and try your hand at making a face. No pun intended! Added bonus? The site connects you to an amazing community of font enthusiasts. Plus the shop has a huge selection of affordable type and nope, I am not a shill, just a fan.

By the way, being assigned these short pieces by PCW is especially rewarding, because I make the sample graphics for the fonts I review, using the standard typing practice sentence as text. Here's how I twisted the Quick Brown Fox over the Lazy Dog using Bat Country. I've always wanted to use the word gonzo in a sentence. 

Next week I'm drawing pretty flowers for a special packaging project. Details to come in the next update. See you then.

P.S. I love comments. To make a comment here, click on the Post a Comment link below, but be aware that the Submit button—labeled Create Post—sits at the top of the comments page along with a Preview Post button. Why is that? I don't know…but no amount of begging has moved that button any closer.

Studio Update: Adding a New Hat to the Rack

Hey! This week I can officially add the title Font Reviewer to my CV thanks to Downloads Editor Laura Blackwell at PCWorld.com. Laura has been patiently pushing me to don the reviewer hat for her section of the site. She found a fit with RM New Albion, a digital update for traditional Blackletter. 

The assignment included a main review, a short blurb, 2 screen shots and a caption. Easy-peasy I thought, but it took me some time to line up a theme. Blackletter…Old English…calligraphy…scribe…pen quill…illuminated manuscript…groan-n-n-n.

I found the answer in the name. New Albion is the title Sir Francis Drake gave to the patch of California coast he claimed for that royal we, Elizabeth I.

Sir Walter's discovery set the tone for both the review and the screen shot (at left). Designer Ray Meadows, included an @ sign in New Albion's symbol set, prompting me to compose an email from the explorer to his queen. In the first round my missive closed with @SirWalterRaleigh.com. Unfortunately that address belongs to a steak house in Maryland. Well then, @SirFaveGuy.com it is. No stealth advertising from this reviewer! 

If you're a font fan, check out Mr. Meadows's inspiring designs here. Ray builds his creations using an application called Fontstructor developed by typographer Rob Meek for FontShop International. If you're ready to discover a set of characters all your own, start here and soon you'll be mapping pixels with abandon! Gosh, who knows, maybe I'll find your creation while wearing my new reviewer hat. We'll have Laura to thank for that.

P.S. I love comments. To make a comment here, click on the Post a Comment link below, but be aware that the Submit button—labeled Create Post—sits at the top of the comments page along with a Preview Post button. Why is that? I don't know…but no amount of begging has moved that button any closer.