1、英文字体设计基础字体设计基础(1)视觉均衡100% practical. Sketches have been made to explain some basic issues in type design during the workshops. They get used to point out some problems which raise while creating a new typeface. Only some foundations are shown, no deep sophisticated details.（写在前面）100%实用。这一系列关于字体设计的讨论
2、文章来自 ，每篇文章都配有手绘的插图，以阐明字体设计的一些基本事项，指出设计新字体时可能会遇到的一些问题。这里只讲述一些最基础的东西，未涉及复杂的技术细节。Same size for all! To optically align all characters on a line, they cannot not have exactly the same mathematical height. For example the triangle on this drawing has to be higher than the rectangle. If this is not the ca
3、se, the triangle will for sure look smaller than the rectangle. While creating a typeface, you want all the letters to have the same height.为了让所有字符在视觉上对齐，它们就不能采用同样的物理尺寸。比如说，下图中的三角形的高度就必须大于矩形。否则，三角形看起来就要比矩形小很多。 而我们在设计字体的时候，往往想给它们定义同样的高度。Also round forms have to exceed the baseline to be optically the
4、 same. If the circle would have exactly the same mathematical height as the rectangle, it would look smaller than the square. This doesnt only count for basic forms like triangles, circles and squares. Its essential in type design, because they apply to every single character in a typeface. Then it
5、even doesnt matter if youre designing a latin, cyrillic or greek font. Its a basic principle for any kind of shape.同样的 ，为了使圆形看起来和矩形同样大小，圆形就必须超出基线。如果圆形和矩形物理尺寸一样，圆形看上去就会比矩形小。这一规则不仅仅适用于三角形、圆形、方形这样的基本形状，这是字体设计的基本原则，整个字体中的所有字符都适用这一原则。不管你设计的是拉丁字体、还是斯拉夫或者希腊文字体，这是所有形体都必须遵循的基本准则。(2)术语Type terminology. Commun
6、ication during the design process is much easier when using basic terminology of type. Here are a couple important ones, which will help to bring the conversation a bit further than yeah, that there, that little black thing. The counter of the e can also be called an eye, but there are many more ter
7、ms. If you want to know them all, go to the library or browse-the-web. 使用字体的基本术语，会让设计过程中的交流变得非常容易。这里是一些基本的术语，让你的交流能够更深入，而不是“嗯，那里，那个，那个黑色的小玩意”小写 e 的“字怀“（“字谷”）有时候也被称为是字“眼”，如果你还想更全面的了解其他术语，可以去图书馆，或者是参考下面的网络资源。（译注：很遗憾，原文中链接的一些资源已经无法访问了。但我们可以用 google 找到其他的资源。这些术语很重要，如果你希望阅读西方的第一手的字体设计研究资料，这是必须跨越的一关。但目前在国
8、内的设计界似乎还没有一个统一的翻译，不少书籍的翻译都是各行其是，让读者也无所适从。有时间我会找一篇比较完整的来翻译。）http:/ you can add more space for a certain combination or you can reduce the space. A kerning pair can technically be implemented in a digital font file.字距配对（kerning pair）是一种因视觉需要而做的技术处理。简单说，在两个特定的字符连排的时候，你可以为它们单独指定与众不同的字符间距。这个间距可以不同于标准间距（前
9、一个字符的右部安全空间+后一个字符的左部安全空间）。这个间距可以是正的也可以是负的，你可以为某个字符对设置更多或更少的空间。数字化的字库文件中可以实现这种字距配对。In some cases kerning is inevitable and necessary. When a capital A is followed by a lowercase v, a big white space will appear which cannot be solved by adapting the spacing of the characters. Changing the spacing wou
10、ld mess it up when they would be combined with other characters again. For this occasion a kerning pair is needed (see drawing). In the sketch you only see some examples where the kerning pair is negative; reducing space. But you can also imagine a positive kerning pair when a f is followed by a bra
11、cket for example; “f)“. More space has to be added to avoid those characters overlapping eachother.有些场合这种字距调整是必不可少的。当一个大写 A 后面跟随一个小写 v 的时候，两个字符间就会出现巨大的白空间，这是普通的字符间距所无法解决的。如果改变它们的间距，它们和其他字母连排的时候就会挤成一团。这时候就需要字距配对来处理了（如图）。图中只出现了字距配对为负的例子缩减空间。但你可以想象一个字距配对为正的例子：一个小写 f 后跟随一个括号，例如： “f)”。这时候就需要加入更多的间距以避免两个字
12、符重叠在一起。(19)连字点击放大Ligatures. In a very few cases they are essential. Some well known ligatures are fi and fl. The inevitable need for a ligature is depending on the design of a font. Not every typeface will need a ligature for a fi combination. But in some cases the dot of the i is interfering with t
13、he f. Get rid of all that annoying row but making a ligature, one glyph which represents two (or more) characters. Next to a functional aspect, there is an aesthetic aspect of ligatures. You could create a ligature for a st combination, or maybe for nky or ism. Anything is possible. Admitting that a
14、lso this is not the most urgent issue in type design, its another obstacle on the road to perfection!只有极少数的场合才需要用到连字。比较常见的连字有“fi”和“fl”。连字是否必不可少，取决于字体的设计。不是每种字体都需要“fi“的连字组合。但有些时候字母“i”上面的圆点会和前面的“f”相撞。一劳永逸的解决方案是做一个连字，用一个字符代替两个（或更多的）字符。连字的出现的原因，除去功能上的需要，还有审美意义上的。你可以做一个“st”的连字组合，或是一个“nky”或“ism”。任何字符都是有可能的。这个章节同样也不是学习字体设计最迫切需要的知识，但这是通向完美之路上另一道必须逾越的障碍。（译注：到今天为止，整个字体设计基础系列文章就全部翻译完了。了却一桩心事。感谢大家一直以来的支持。）
