Thread: Dedicated Fonts for Mapping

Sounds like a fun idea but there are so many fonts already. At least start with a font you have permission to modify then add just the glyphs you want to add.

I think you'd get more return on your efforts with a collection of cartographic symbols that might become some dings or something.


Try Gentium
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/p...tem_id=gentium

or Old Standard
http://www.thessalonica.org.ru/en/fonts.html


.

Thanks Sigurd, snagged! Gentium is really nice and a good one to modify.

Yeah, maybe a symbol set to accompany the font set might be the way forward.

Originally Posted by ravells

The more common 'fused letters' (not used in modern english) like OE AE etc.

These are called ligatures. There are two ligatures common in English type: the double 't' and 'fl'.

I have to say, that making your own font from scratch is a tedious and time consuming process. I have a new found respect for font creators.

And now you know why the pros so jealously guard their right to get paid for that work.

Incidentally, a good type designer can make quite a lot of money, since there are relatively few people who actually do it properly.

A lot of fonts come with "alternates" which usually include ligatures and/or swashes in those 4 basic styles (bold, italic, etc.). That way you don't have to try to cram all of that stuff into one font set. What you might think about adding are small caps (the first letter of a word is larger than the rest of the letters but all are capitalized), extended (letters are taller), wide (letters are wider), outline (empty letter with a stroke), shadowed (sort of like a drop shadow combined with an outside white stroke), decorative (letters have some sort of decoration in the fat parts like lines or paisleys or dots, etc), and then there's always the grunge/destroy/decay where the edges get roughed up. Fonts like Birmingham, Bolton, Helena, Lewisham, and Lightfoot are good examples as they are frequently all bundled together in one zip file. I only know of these 5 because I use them regularly and are mid to late 19th century.

What I'm wondering is if it would be more worthwhile to just make swash brushes to tack on top of a font (on a new layer for example) rather than making a whole font set. Ligatures would be tedious to do that way because you'd never get things kerned correctly (spacing between letters) but swashes and accents might be good.

Oi! How many font sets must I go through??? Having said that, I do like outline fonts they work really well with maps.

I have to say, I do love the depth of knowledge available here.

Wait until you start thinking about Bold Italic Outline Extended Shadowed Drop Caps...can drive a person mad I tell ya. Good thing Photoshop can fake most of that and I can add my own drop shadows and strokes.