Aiming high

As I was saying in my previous post, why not aim high in excercises? Below, Rest trying to keep up with none other than Francesco Griffo da Bologna himself (and not doing a good job of it, of course):

As I wrote on the Flickr caption, the above is a quote from the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili set in Rest, stylistic set 1.

Since my kerning is not yet done, I used InDesign’s optical kerning (and it shows, many combinations like QVA are way too tight). The stylistic set includes a Q with the long tail, an M without the upper-right serif (as seen in Griffo’s De Aetna type) and open-bowled P. S looks a bit too short and maybe too wide and heavy. Q and O should be more round by Griffo’s standards. I used to have a long-tailed R but removed it at some point, maybe I should bring it back for all caps settings like these.

Update on the previous point: yesterday night I drew an alternate R with epigraphic capitals proportions and contrast – to a certain extent. This:

Now, when I say I’m trying to keep up with Griffo I don’t mean I’m trying to replicate his lettershapes or proportions in Rest. That’s a fun project for sure, but not this one. And I am also quite skeptical of “literal” revivals of metal typefaces: of course you can chase the grace and the impression on page of a typeface, but apart from that I think you’re chasing the impossible as technologies are drastically different and needs and usages have changed too (so that would make for a pretty unpractical typeface).

Anyway: fun fun fun!