Nomenclature Typography
2020—Ongoing
Personal project.#type Design
#web design
#Web Development
#Print Design
Role
designer, i did all of it
s. 01
Intro
Nomenclature is a personal project I began a few years ago as my interest in typography grew. I had successfully completed a few typefaces and begun many others and was looking for something to do with them. I did what many young energetic designers are doing in the era of Instagram. I started my own little typographic project and began to market it as such. I designed and printed specimen booklets to show off the typefaces’ characteristics in print and I created digital assets to show them off on the web. Lastly, I designed and coded a bespoke web experience to house and show off the library, with features typical of what you might see on a professional foundry website.Not all of the typefaces are finished and commercially ready, some of them are even missing glyphs, but in this context they can be appreciated away from my hard drive. At some point I will expand the site and provide the typefaces that are completed for download, but for now it sits unmaintained.
s. 02
typeface catalog
Over the years I’ve designed the bases for dozens of typefaces. Any type designer knows that the most exciting part of the process is the so-called “star-glyphs”, that is, the ones that inspire the entire thing. It’s easy enough to sketch out the most interesting parts, the part that give expression to the concept at base, but the true work comes at the inflection point where one must decide if the first 5 hours of exciting work merit the next 100+ hours of tedium as the character set is extended to symbols, language support, arcane mathematical characters, and the spacing is set, the pairs are kerned, the font is exported and tested in InDesign, then in Word, then on the web, and onwards...The above steps are repeated innumerable times until the designer has deemed the product ready. Ready for the wild, ready for the sin-fin of use cases it will be put up against by impatient designers who demand first and foremost that it works without glitch. Of the dozens of typefaces I’ve designed the basic character sets for I’ve only carried two, maybe three to completion, with about 7 others close to completion but lacking a few essential features.
Below I’ve listed out some of the essentials of the catalog, including a few notes on each typeface and its current status. Of course, you can check these out for yourself in more detail on the catalog website.
NMC Red + Red Mono
Variable Axes: weight, slant
A straightforward, workhorse sans serif. This is the most complete typeface of the catalog and includes italics and monospaced versions that make extensive use of OpenType features. Status: Complete and production ready!
NMC serata text + display
Serata combines an elegant, extremely high contrast serif typeface intended for display use with a text variant that maintains the same basic forms but is taylored to use at smaller sizes. Status: The basic glyph sets, including punctuation and symbols have been completed for both fonts. Italics and language support are the next steps.
NMC Grotesk
Variable Axes: weight
A playful “grotesk” (early term for sans-serif) typeface with plenty of personality. This one gives you range from the heaviest weight which dominates the page, to the thinnest which is hardly noticable. Playing around with the weights is particularly fun as a variable typeface.Status: Extending the basic character set and adding italics. Still needs some punctuation and symbols.
NMC bellinger
Variable Axes: weight, slant
A friendly serif with rounded forms. Conceived mostly for display purposes, at the regular weight it performs acceptably well at smaller sizes. Status: Complete and production ready!
s. 03
sample sheets
s. 04
web experience
Nomenclature.xyz is a place to show off and test the typefaces on the web. Essentially it’s a digital catalog with pages dedicated to each typeface, including those that are in progress. I coded it myself using basic html, css, js and used it as an opportunity to test and flex my coding skills a bit. At the moment the site sits untouched for a few years, however I have plans to extend some of the features as the typefaces themselves progress.
https://nomenclature.xyz
s. 05
anatomy of a typeface page
Typeface pages were designed and built with the idea to show off the key features of each. At this point there is a pretty standard set of features expected from a type foundry page, and most or all of them can be found here.
features 1
Styles and Weights
First things first, how many weights does this typeface have? Does it have italics?
features 2
Sample Text Strings
I added a series of text strings for people to play around with. The idea is that the glyph variety in these strings is enough to get a well-rounded idea of what the typeface might be good for, and what it might not. Categories are included, including things like basic alphabet, numbers, symbols, pangrams, and non-english samples.I added a series of text strings for people to play around with. The idea is that the glyph variety in these strings is enough to get a well-rounded idea of what the typeface might be good for, and what it might not. Categories are included, including things like basic alphabet, numbers, symbols, pangrams, and non-english samples.
Features 3
Glyphs Module
For special needs use cases it might be helpful to be able to quickly browse the glyphs and open type features available in a typeface. The glyphs module allows users to do just that, with one side dedicated to inspection, the other housing a grid of all glyphs in a font. Hover on the grid to see the glyph large, unicode details and official unicode glyph name display below. Glyphs are superimposed over a series of horizontal rules representing the baseline, cap-height, and x-height.
Features 4
Type Tester
Perhaps the most important part of any typography site, the tester gives you a try-before-you-buy advantage. A simple interface has users click in to activate the tester, size and styles can be selected in the menu below. For variable fonts the axis sliders allow users to see the interpolation between masters and get pretty much any variation they might want.
Feature 5
Download and Info
Although most of the typefaces are not ready for download, the ones that are provide that access in this section, along with a brief description of process, influences, a type biography if you will. For more practical info, Supported languages and OpenType features are listed here as well.
Feature 6
Toggle Black / White
Type design is a constant push and pull between negative and positive shapes. An integral part of the process is visualizing the letterforms in their opposites. Each type page has an omnipresent black / white toggle that reverses the page to this end.Type design is a constant push and pull between negative and positive shapes. An integral part of the process is visualizing the letterforms in their opposites. Each type page has an omnipresent black / white toggle that reverses the page to this end.
Feature 7 mobile friendly
s. 05
closing thoughts
As mentioned in the intro this is a living, breathing body of work. Naturally as I move forward in my career my tastes begin to mature a bit, leading me to extend, tweak, or correct glyphs in the existing catalog. I plan to take the time in the next year or so to perfect the Serata typefaces, specifically the text variation so that it can be used in all my personal projects moving forward. If you’re curious about any of what you’ve seen or would like to request a download link don’t hesitate to reach out.
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Alex Sweet
Available for full time + Freelance© 2024 All work created and owned by Alex Sweet
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