Studio Brief 02 - Refining the experiments

After further looking into Stencil typefaces, this is the altered result. The stems are larger, more bold which helps structure the letter form in the absence of the connecting stems. So overall there is a much cleaner more cohesive visual appearance about the letter forms that creates a sense of rhythm along the alphabet. I also added a slight curve at the end of the stems to help differentiate my type against Bella. However I still find that further adjustments could be made. I think the idea of having thin straight terminals doesn't work entirely well. It creates to much negative space within the letter form and is too contrasting with the thick stems. Letter forms such as C, E, F, G, L and S. 

Taking inspiration from Bella, I decided to include more elaborate terminals to help enclose the letter form better and to help structure it. I thinned the arc of the D which brings in more negative space and elongates the letter form, making it look taller. I adjusted spacing of the arms of K and the arc of P, which makes both make it stand out better. It is less cramped and there's more visual balance. For the letter C, I removed the straight arms and replaced it with Caslon's serifs. And throughout the alphabet, I reused this serif to retain consistency and visual balance. I chose to remove the thick stem of the R because it looked too chunky. Furthermore the arc and arm of the R is recognisable enough to allow the removal. 

So I sought to see how these letter forms would look like together in a word and there are a few criticisms. The S is not as consistent as the other letters in terms of negative space. The other letter forms are very open due to their missing stems thus the terminals of the S and E were too big and enclosed the overall shape too much. What I did notice however is that by having the lower terminal of the S larger than the top, it helps the letter sit better.   

So here is the final iteration of my typeface. My next step it to place it on context to see how well it works.