Lets Fix This - Join In For A Fun Exercise

[smk]

I walk past this building from time to time and the sign outside this otherwise nice building always bothers me.

 

Here it is:

 

 

 

I would like to pose this as a friendly challenge/activity. How would you fix this? There is one glaring flaw but are there others? Would you rather do it in another style?

 

Remember, the sign is supposed to convey an air of sophistication and class.

 

I'll be looking forward to the contributions.

 

Salman

[mboschm]

To start with, less spacing between letters. Then, reduce the k lower stem.

[smk]

Yes, spacing is indeed an issue.

 

Here is a look at the whole picture. I think it gives a better idea of the layout.

 

 

BTW - this is not a test.

 

There are no right or wrong answers. I have my ideas on how I would like to change it which may or may not be the same as yours - which is why it would be fun to see what everybody comes up with.

 

I will share my version when I get a chance to put pen to paper - not sure if it'll be today or tomorrow though.

 

S.

[MisterBoll]

The "Skymark 1" should be in the same font as the number and should not be italic.

 

3303

SKYMARK 1

[caliken]

This is a poorly-constructed font called Monotype Corsiva. It's difficult to know where to start!

 

The letters v to z look as though they've come from a different alphabet and have nothing to do with the letter construction of the rest.

 

I suppose it's meant to give the impression of having been handwritten, but many of the weights are wrong and out of balance.

 

The most obvious fault is linking the k with the letter y (which is particularly ugly and totally out of sync with the rest of the letters).

The 'designer' has attempted to lessen this clash by moving the letters slightly apart, which doesn't help.

 

As to what I'd do to improve it? - I'd chuck it in the bin and start again!

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd289/caliken_2007/Monotype400.jpg

Edited June 19, 2013 by caliken

[mbankirer]

It looks like some kid took RUB-ON letters to make the sign!

 

I agree, chuck it and start over!

[wallylynn]

When I send letters in the mail, I make a concious effort to block print the address, all caps. No fanciness.

[smk]

OK - so we are starting over then...lets get some ink on paper....

[Dennis W]

Ok, I'll play.

 

 

 

 

 

Free Caroline Modern w/ Speedball C3

 

Regards,

 

Dennis

 

 

Edited June 19, 2013 by Dennis W

[smk]

Dennis - the spacing looks much better in your rendition.

 

Ken - thanks for the informative post. I had no idea that this was a font. I will stay well clear of this ugliness :-)

 

As others have noted, the spacing between the k & y had to be increased to keep them from clashing. I suspect the S was spaced a bit further away too in attempt to achieve some kind of balance. Also, the curved stroke of the 'y' caused a large empty space between it and the preceding 'k' - this adds to the sense of unbalance IMO.

 

Here's my take on the layout:

 

 

Sorry for the poorly lighted picture from my cell phone.

 

BTW - Skymark II has a much improved sign so I guess others were not too crazy about Skymark 1 :-) I'll post a picture of it when I get a chance.

 

So - anybody else see a sign that looks wonky?

 

S.

[caliken]

Salman,

 

Your balanced lettering looks so much more attractive.

 

Ken

[smk]

Thank you Ken.

[thang1thang2]

Off the assumption that these are condos...

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/iupxrmh.jpg

 

[inkstainedruth]

Having taken typography classes in the (increasingly distant) past, I keep wondering if there were some way to turn the <k> and the <y> into a single ligature letter in order to fix the spacing issues. Because it sure does look pretty clunky otherwise....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[smk]

Great idea than1thang2 - how does it look if both 'k's cut the line? Also, the 3303 needs to be bigger as it is the address and would be used by navigation systems etc. so people will be looking for it.

 

Ruth - I don't know if a k-y ligature is possible but the idea is interesting. This is something that hadn't occurred to me. The original font would be hard to fix the spacing even if we shorten the 'k's leg as the top of the 'y' will butt heads with the loop of the 'k' and the curve on the left side of 'y' will still leave a big empty space.

 

Salman

[thang1thang2]

Great idea than1thang2 - how does it look if both 'k's cut the line? Also, the 3303 needs to be bigger as it is the address and would be used by navigation systems etc. so people will be looking for it.

 

Ruth - I don't know if a k-y ligature is possible but the idea is interesting. This is something that hadn't occurred to me. The original font would be hard to fix the spacing even if we shorten the 'k's leg as the top of the 'y' will butt heads with the loop of the 'k' and the curve on the left side of 'y' will still leave a big empty space.

 

Salman

In my opinion the original font is beyond repair. It's a mono-line, which means that each letter has to be its own ligature because that's the restrictions of the font. As such, you can't modify spacing in any way. This means that in order to look attractive, the letters must be very very basic. As in, "typewriter" like. If they didn't make it a monoline, they could just use one of the chancery cursive fonts they have out there. Zapfino is a particularly brilliant example of italic converted for the computer, in my opinion.

 

I thought the 3303 might have to have been bigger, but I figured that if the sign was going to be large enough that it wouldn't matter and that one would want the main focus to be on the "skymark" part of it.

 

As for having both k's break the line, it makes it look a little too broken. As it is, the line looks broken enough. I should've modified the 'k' letter so that it was stouter and so that there wasn't such a large gap on the right side. The one is also spaced too far to the right. I'm not quite happy with it, but since it's all in sport I didn't worry too much about minor issues.

[Elizabeth in NJ]

Gaah! This is why they shouldn't let amateurs do layouts in Microsoft Word.

 

And that's speaking as an amateur who does layouts in Microsoft Word.

[Runnin_Ute]

3303

Skymark 1

 

3303

Skymark 1

 

Although the above aren't centered or anything they do look nice. I just grabbed some fonts from Word. (Segoe Print and Segoe Script respectively)

[MisterBoll]

 

[smk]

Thang1thang2 - it is discussions like these that makes it interesting for me. I can see that both k's poking through the line would be too broken - how would we make it work then, maybe just the overlap done in a different color rather than any breaks at all?

 

Runnin_Ute - your 'layouts' needs some kerning work. Look at the shape of the empty space (negative space) between the 'k' and 'y' in your design and then compare it with the corresponding space in thang1thang2's desing - see the difference? It doesn't show much at this size but if we blow these up to be 2 feet wide it will become obvious.

 

S.