The secret of Custom Fonts

Devna Font Used to illustrate an America comic

Typography has been around for a long period of time. Ancient cave paintings that date back to 20,000 B.C. are perhaps the very first recorded written communication . But a formal writing script was said to be developed by the Sumerians at around 3500 B.C.

As civilizations grew and more and more people settled together as a colony a need to communicate complex concepts grew. This gave birth to the Egyptian hieroglyphics. By 3100 B.C they began incorporating symbols or ideograms into their art and architecture. Phoenicians developed the symbols or phonograms that are still in use like the % sign and the # sign to represent numbers.

The Phoenicians are credited with the development of the very first alphabet around 1000 B.C. Same alphabet was used by the Greeks. In fact, the word Alphabet is a combination of the first two Greek letters, Alpha and Beta.

Gutenberg and Modern Typography

The development of the printing press in the 15th century by Johannes Gutenberg was a turning point for the modern typography. During this time, both practical and decorative typefaces appeared for the mass, along with a lighter, more ordered page layout with subtle illustrations.

By the Industrial Revolution typography was all about signs, posters, newspapers, periodicals and advertisements, typefaces became larger and catchier, with bolder lettering and shading.

Developing a New Font

It’s important to know the style you want for your typeface, what different applications it will be used in and who will use it. If creating a typeface beyond personal use, you may be required to use a Glyph palette. Glyphs are essentially all available characters in a font from letters to numbers and special characters.

Designing a typeface for a digital environment can be difficult. It’s always a balance of form and function, but high-res screens on phones, tablets, monitors, TVs and more have allowed type designers a little more creative detail.

Process for designing a font

• Research

• Drawing the Initial font

• Designing Digital font

• Testing in context

Development of a Devanagari Typeface

Keeping in mind the researched material DEVNA was developed. Devna is a combination typeface between Bold & Script style. It was developed keeping in mind the rich cultural heritage that the Devanagari script has and it perfectly blends the mathematical background of India with its geometrical form. It is a perfect choice to show your pop visual content. Perfectly suited for graphic design and any display use. It could easily work for web, signage, corporate as well as for editorial design.

Basic Terminology

• Font vs Typeface

• Lettering vs typeface

• Typeface classification (Serif, Sans Serif, Geometric Sans Serif, Grotesque Sans Serif, Script)

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Conclusion

Typography has been around for a long period of time and it is here to stay. but the practically-endless body of work that represents typography makes it impossible for graphic designers nowadays to become familiar with each and every typeface design that exists. However it is important to have a knowledge about all the things that are happening in the entire field and to be up to date so that you can serve your client better and more efficiently.