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Design

Posted by Mamal Khan
Mamal Khan
14,206 Points

Font Design

Hi

I have some ideas about designing a font. but it's not like other fonts.

I want to design it like if there is a letter "b" near letter "l", letter "b" appear differently than a "b" appear near "a".

  • How can I do that?
  • What software would I need to design this font?
  • What Programming language would I need when I'm defining these conditions?

6 Answers

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

Yes it's possible to do that, but type design is a world onto itself, well designed typefaces are the product of a year or more of full-time work.

Check out http://www.glyphsapp.com/

Erik Nemesis
Erik Nemesis
13,356 Points
Erik Nemesis
Erik Nemesis
13,356 Points

Ummm... I don't think you can do that... You can create a different kind of b and assign it to another character (for instance the german 'ss') but gives two versions of a b according to conditions...

If you are designing an app, you can implement a watcher say, in Javascript, that will auto-transform all 'bl' into your "custom b + l" using some sort of replace, but natively no, you can't.

Mamal Khan
Mamal Khan
14,206 Points
Mamal Khan
Mamal Khan
14,206 Points

I know It's possible in Persian...

After Installing Persian/Farsi on your OS, you can Download "Iran nastaliq" font and check letter "?"(pronounced : 'd') and "?"(pronounced : 'r') together and see that it's different from other "?" and "?" s in a sentence

Erik Nemesis
Erik Nemesis
13,356 Points
Erik Nemesis
Erik Nemesis
13,356 Points

Then it's not a question of font but of keyboard layout. For this to work one needs to have the Parsi layout installed on their keyboard that will turn a combination of letters into another. One example in Latin is the accents: if you have installed the international keyboard on Windows, then you can add accents to a letter (and thus change it) by preceding the letter with the key for the symbol representing the accent (acute, grave) then type the letter.

Therefore, if you plan to design a Parsi font, you need to find out the Unicode character for the "bl" character and design it personally, but users won't be able to use it unless they use the Parsi layout.

Mamal Khan
Mamal Khan
14,206 Points
Mamal Khan
Mamal Khan
14,206 Points

I didn't get it...

Someone installs Farsi Keyboard Layout in order to be able to type Persian with Fonts like "Tahoma, Arial and 'Iran Nastaliq' "

In the first two, there is no specific way of letters "d" and "r" together. It's all normal. but in "Iran Nastaliq" It's a different "d" and a different "r", There is no extra typing, no using of Shift+KeyStroke or anything else. The font automatically detects these 2 letters and form them in a new way. How is it possible?

How can I break this font(completely) and understand it's functionality? and use it for English?

Additional:

Mamal Khan
Mamal Khan
14,206 Points
Mamal Khan
Mamal Khan
14,206 Points

It seems I really need a Mac!

I now know what to search ;)