Some readers may have looked at the following thread, which is about my Stardisc font and mentions the database idea which it supports.
As I am interested in graphic design and ligatures, I have tried to design a logo for the database, partly in case it becomes implemented using the STARDISC name, partly because having a logo might help it become implemented with whatever name and partly because I like trying to design graphic art.
The present version is as follows.
The design contains a capital AR ligature.
I have not seen an AR ligature previously, though someone somewhere might well have added one into a font previously. I did search for AR ligature at http://www.yahoo.com and am trying to follow up on some of the references.
I produced the gif file using Microsoft Paint. I started by setting the text STÆRDISC in Microsoft WordPad, in black, using the font Goudita SF, which is a font supplied by Serif with at least some, maybe all, versions of its PagePlus program.
In case anyone is trying out this exercise, some readers might like to know that Æ can be produced in Wordpad using Alt 0198.
I then did a Print Screen and a paste into Paint. Having cut out the STÆRDISC and produced a new graphic containing just that, I then carefully removed the E part of Æ and blended the R into it. I then reduced the space between the T and the AR ligature. I then made the spaces each side of the text equal and coloured the text blue.
I did, before producing the logo by that method, try making a local version of the font by making an AR ligature as a Private Use Area glyph and then using an Alt code to produce the graphic directly in WordPad. I was then thinking of trying to add kerning for the T and the AG glyph, though thinking that perhaps a TAG glyph in the Private Use Area might be an easier approach as I seem to remember that WordPad does not support kerning, though that may not be correct.
However, having produced a font named Goudita SF AR I found that the letters went thin, probably due to having lost the hinting, so I used the drawing method above so as to make progress on producing a logo design.
However, I am thinking that an AR ligature could be quite stylish in a font, particularly an OpenType font where it could be a discretionary ligature which would be added in automatically.
Capital letter ligatures of modern introduction seem to be growing in popularity. For example, in my second post in the http://forum.high-logic.com/viewtopic.php?t=1654 thread there is a link to the character map of Palatino™ Sans Informal Com Ultra Light OpenType format. That character map has various ligatures available from the Private Use Area, including the following ligatures involving two capitals.
AT ET HE LL ND NE NN OO ST TH TT WH
So, whether my design helps the STARDISC project to become implemented I do not know, yet it has been fun designing it and producing it and thinking about it and around it in relation to ligatures of capitals.
William Overington
26 March 2007