Back - Trigger

Graphic Collections - Custom Font Design

Lacrimae rerum. Memento mori. Memento vivere.

Square Orbits Heading

This font is a work in progress with many iterations to come. The origination backstory was to be used in the logo for this website with a design which aims to create an informal display typography which stands out while remaining consistent across the letters. Currently, the developed letters include "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "M", "N", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", and "Z" (identical lowercase and uppercase letters). For other characters, Noto Sans Bold is used as the default replacement. With regard to next steps, the glyphs and advancements have been selected, but the kerning between letters has not been set (going to take a bit of time unfortunately).

Example displaying Square Orbits Heading as intended for use in the logo of this website:

Font Letters Showcase

The design uses a pair of paths to establish the outlines in each letter with equally-spaced gaps to make the typeface casual but structured. The paths are consistently spaced at the same distance in each letter, while the gaps are placed to create a similar sense of openness across the letters. The intention is for the font to be used for titles or headings, since the style of the design was prioritized over easy legibility and it may have reduced readability when used in the body. The lowercase and uppercase letters are identical, except for "O" which has a lowercase letter as the icon logo and uppercase letter in the same style as the other letters. In addition, there is currently only a single roman weight.

Showcase of the glyphs for Square Orbits Heading (identical lowercase and uppercase letters except for "O"):
Example of Square Orbits Heading used for the title or heading with Comic Neue Normal as the font for the body:
Example of Square Orbits Heading used for the body with Comic Neue Light as the font for the title or heading:

Software Architecture Overview

The letters were created in Inkscape and turned in glyphs using the SVG Font Editor. FontForge was then used to generate a ... font. ... .

Origination Backstory

The concept began as a logo for this website, where various iterations were created and trialled for "O". Eventually, after struggling to find a suitable font, it was decided to also experiment with the text for the rest of the name with letters for "R", "B", "I", "T" and "S". At which point, the design was extended to the rest of the alphabet. Just for interest, the initial idea was for this website to be named "Upsilon Library" then "Square Orbits" before settling on "Orbits".

Exploratory iterations of the preliminary design for the initial icon logo of this website:
Exploratory iterations of the preliminary design for the initial full logo of this website: