Ode
SemiLight
You need JavaScript enabled and the latest version of Flash Player to see this type sample.Credits
- Classification
- Inscriptional
- Original Format
- Digital
- Distributor(s)
- MartinPlusFonts, Kombinat-Typefounders
Background
The typical characteristics of broken script typefaces such as their formal rigidness, weighty appearance and archaic character shapes, limit their use in body text today. They are far less readable than say, Humanist typefaces.
With Ode Martin Wenzel tried to disprove this. A broken script typeface such as the Gothic script (Textualis) can be highly legible if the design is approached in a less orthodox way and solves the above issues that conflict with ideas of legibility.
By replacing hard corners with round ones and giving the characters a more curvy and smoother overall design, the typically stern appearance of the typeface is greatly diminished, even with the ‘fracture’ of the counters still intact. My next step was to apply a very gentle slant and shift the weight within each letter slightly towards the top. Lastly, I replaced all Gothic script model characters which are unfamiliar to us with those of the humanist construction. These are compatible as both letter types are based on writing with the broad-nibbed pen.
