Oh, and a 'font review' is also appreciated.
When I have published fonts in the Gallery section of this forum, I have often hoped for some reviews, yet few have been made of my fonts.
So, an implied request for me to review the font caused me to compare and contrast feelings that I am a hobbyist font designer who has had dreams of becoming a professional font designer yet realize that that may never happen and that I am not qualified to review someone else's font; yet also that now that I am a bit further along the learning curve than when I started and that I can but try to write a review, bearing in mind that my interest in creative writing has taught me that if one starts writing something then it often turns out much better than one dared to imagine when one started. Also, if I were unwilling to try to write a review, why should I hope for reviews of my own fonts? Yet maybe it is just the culture not to write reviews of other people's fonts unless reviews are specifically sought? So, here, within those boundaries, is a review.
I read somewhere that there is more interest in writing poetry than in reading poems written by other people. I wonder if the same is true about designing and making fonts and using fonts designed and made by others. I find various free fonts on the web, yet when it comes to designing something, which for me is always a hobbyist item, I tend to use my own fonts, though I will use something professional if the item has a greater purpose than me trying to be an artist.
Yet the almost magical thing about fonts is that one can use them to produce other things. So, if one uses someone else's font, something of his or her design skill is included in one's own work. Yet is that what one wants? For example, the madinmelbournefat font expresses the artistry of its designer. Looking at the web page about fashion, which uses the font to good effect, is a case in point.
http://www.madinmelbourne.com.au/fashion.html
For the use of writing about the font designer's opinions on fashion, it is excellent. It looks as if the writer has expressed opinions on a note. It adds to the message.
If I were writing a page about my ideas about fashion I would want to use my own font, or if that were not possible, I would want to use a font which did not look like it were someone else's personal font.
Personal font? Yet it is published. All of my own fonts are personal in that I designed and produced them, yet I do not regard all of them as personal fonts in the sense that they look as if any message produced with them are my own thoughts. I have not published personal fonts, though one of them can be viewed as it is used to display the text in each of the following documents.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/poster.PDF
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/cranes.PDF
So maybe the madinmelbournefat font should be thought of as a designer font rather than as a personal font.
The madinmelbournefat font successfully conveys the idea that the writer has somehow directly reached out and written on the web page using fibre tip pens, expressing thoughts directly, almost as if speaking, rather than having needed to bother with preparing an HTML text page! It is as if the text has flowed seamlessly from the mind of its writer onto the screen. To observe this effect, one needs to have the font installed on the computer being used to view the web page.
I wonder if the designer will use the font to produce fashion items, that is, to produce clothing with text printed upon it, so that as well as having a designer label added afterwards, a designer font is also used within the design of the garment itself. That would be stylish.
William Overington
22 January 2008