#Hurme geometric sans github manuals#
#Hurme geometric sans github full#

#Hurme geometric sans github full#

The actual neon sign that inspired the design looks like it may have started from Helvetica, but I wanted to imagine that the Neon style of Tilt was first brush-lettered as a reference for the final neon sign, and wasnвЂ™t related to any single typeface in particular.ДЄside from the Tilt Neon style, now that I had drawn a full sans-serif to use as a guide, I ended up finding two more 3D forms that I could get out of the same model.

#Hurme geometric sans github manuals#

ItвЂ™s a familiar style, and one thatвЂ™s easy to find in lettering manuals - variations have been taught as part of the sign-making trade for decades. To design the typeface, I put myself in the shoes of the sign-maker and started by drawing the letter model of a geometric sans serif, with the intention that it would only be used as a guide to build up the neon letterforms. It took most of 2019, and along with a lot of custom tooling in RoboFont to be able to draw in the third dimension, I wound up with Tilt. I sent a quick snap of the sign to a few friends, вЂњcan your #varfont do this?вЂќ, and kept moving, but I couldnвЂ™t ignore it - from a technological standpoint I had to figure out how exactly a variable font could do this. With variable fonts on the mind, I thought it was kind of amazing how the physical form of a common sans-serif could inadvertently blend into something that looked like graffiti lettering. I saw something that looked like it was more than just distorted neon tubing, a new letterform that could have been made intentionally (even though it surely was not).

However, the side form of the digits looked fast and dynamic, and almost hand written. From the front it looked completely static, like any ordinary sans-serif. However, this particular sign, at 188 3rd Ave., seemed different. A good sign-maker would try to minimize this distortion, ideally the sign would at least pass as being readable from any angle. We take it as a general understanding that when viewed off-center, the sign exposes the twisted path that the neon tubes had to take to form the intended image.

Neon signs are of course built to be viewed straight-on, from this angle the shape of their characters and symbols match as closely as possible to the model that the sign-maker is following. The sign revealed something that should have been completely obvious but that I hadnвЂ™t ever noticed. Inspiration for the design came from one completely average neon sign, spotted in the front window of a laundromat in New York City. Tilt is a family of three variable fonts, based on styles of dimensional lettering that you might find in a storefront.