4 ms·

Overshoots are an unfortunate holdover. In many fonts, "C"s and "O"s are too big and "A"s are too tall. I mean, just look at this: https://typography.guru/up

Overshoots are an unfortunate holdover. In many fonts, "C"s and "O"s are too big and "A"s are too tall. I mean, just look at this: https://typography.guru/uploads/monthly_2020_01/overshoot.thumb.png.daaf421910bb62e86e56e457cf8b0e24.png https://typography.guru/uploads/monthly_2020_01/overshoot.th... Or this: https://ilovetypography.com/img/2015/03/Caslon-overshoot-500x2501.jpg https://ilovetypography.com/img/2015/03/Caslon-overshoot-500... Or this: https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/06/GettyImages-1166667354.jpg?w=2560&h=1440&crop=1 https://ktla.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/06/GettyIma... Or this: https://live.staticflickr.com/5300/5482446696_1fa1ff2b45_b.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/5300/5482446696_1fa1ff2b45_b.j... Hideous. Try to follow that baseline with your eye. It's a roller coaster of chaos. Type designers like to add overshoots merely out of habit, not aesthetics. They might have made sense in the lead type era, but simply look like mistakes today.

trealira 3y ago
They're not hideous. Overshoots sage there because at normal reading sizes sizes, or on poster sizes read from far away, if letters like o, n, O, A, etc. don't have overshoots, then they'll look too small compared to the other letters, even though they're technically the same size. It's an illusion that type designers work around using letter overshoots.
- zestyping 3y ago
  Yes, everyone says that. It's parroted so often that people think it's true. But have you _seen_ it? Please show me an example of type that looks more _uniformly sized_ with overshoots than without, and I'll agree with you.
  - dhosek 3y ago
    Look at sequences of capital letters in Kabel a typeface which doesn’t use overshoots and you will see that you’ve been ignoring overshoots all over the place.
    - zestyping 3y ago
      I don't understand. I'm looking at Kabel and it has lots of overshoots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabel_(typeface)#/media/File:Kabel_new_specimen.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabel_(typeface)#/media/File:K... https://www.freefonts.io/kabel-font-free/ https://www.freefonts.io/kabel-font-free/ Are you thinking of a different typeface?
  - trealira 3y ago
    I have tried to resize letters in FontForge and realized that the letters looked too small when I got rid of the overshoot. Sorry for the late response. I didn't see your reply.

trealira 3y ago

They're not hideous. Overshoots sage there because at normal reading sizes sizes, or on poster sizes read from far away, if letters like o, n, O, A, etc. don't have overshoots, then they'll look too small compared to the other letters, even though they're technically the same size. It's an illusion that type designers work around using letter overshoots.

zestyping 3y ago
Yes, everyone says that. It's parroted so often that people think it's true. But have you _seen_ it? Please show me an example of type that looks more _uniformly sized_ with overshoots than without, and I'll agree with you.
- dhosek 3y ago
  Look at sequences of capital letters in Kabel a typeface which doesn’t use overshoots and you will see that you’ve been ignoring overshoots all over the place.
  - zestyping 3y ago
    I don't understand. I'm looking at Kabel and it has lots of overshoots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabel_(typeface)#/media/File:Kabel_new_specimen.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabel_(typeface)#/media/File:K... https://www.freefonts.io/kabel-font-free/ https://www.freefonts.io/kabel-font-free/ Are you thinking of a different typeface?
- trealira 3y ago
  I have tried to resize letters in FontForge and realized that the letters looked too small when I got rid of the overshoot. Sorry for the late response. I didn't see your reply.