New Typeface Design - Shelby!

While remodeling and organizing my studio, I realized that I had been collecting (more like hoarding!) a lot of tools and materials for lettering and illustration over the last couple of decades, some of which I had never even used. This led me to an experimental lettering phase using what I had rediscovered to see what I had been missing out on. One item that I had overlooked completely was my set of Speedball B nibs. When my older sister was away at college, she had visited an art supply store that was going out of business. She told me that they were selling all of their Speedball nibs for the bargain price of ten cents a piece. She asked me how many them I wanted, and I said, "All of them!" Two hundred nibs and twenty dollars later, I ended up with quite the collection. I had been using the C nibs for years, but hadn't really touched the others, so I decided to end the cold spell and experiment with these. I fell in love with the round B nibs, they were so perfect for creating a casual, springy, round marker-like look. I had been wanting to create a mono-line typeface, but whenever I attempted it, I quickly became frustrated as the lettering didn't look the way I had envisioned. I had simply been using the wrong tools! Now I had my answer, and I set about filling up a stack of papers with what would be the beginning of my latest typeface, Shelby.

During my years spent as a graphic designer, I was always on the look out for a typeface that would work well for both the handwritten note look that could also double as a splashy headline that wouldn't be too frilly. What I was looking for seemed to fall in between a handwriting font and a script font. Most of the handwriting fonts I found looked a little too authentic, too average looking. Not something that jumps out at you – not sexy, refined and slick enough to be used for headlines. Script fonts were generally too constructed in appearance, taking on a look of formality when I wanted a casual appearance. If I had the time, which I rarely seemed to, I would hand letter what I was looking for. This is where Shelby fits in. The look of polished handwriting with an advertising edge.

Trying to achieve a handwritten look for a typeface is more difficult than it may seem. I spent most of my time working out letter solutions on paper and I had to practice a lot of restraint with any editing done on the computer. Too much editing after the fact can quickly diminish the natural appearance of the letters. When I look at the letters close up on a computer screen, I start seeing flaws that I didn't see during or after the hand lettering phase, and of course, I want to fix them. And, sometimes I also want to modify the letters so they look similar to their family members (ie; b, d, p, q). Both of these practices, while important with most designs, can become the undoing of a natural, handwritten look. The key to a good handwriting font is its quirks and inconsistencies. Trying to strike a balance between just enough consistency to avoid visual chaos while retaining its natural appearance is the challenge.

This design requires more ligatures and contextual alternates than what you might see in your average typeface – necessary to maintain a natural appearance. I paid close attention to my habits when lettering this style according to what letters I would naturally connect or leave unconnected, and if I changed a letter style based on what it was next to. I included some alternate letterforms and some swash letters too for the designer that wishes to do their own experimentation with this typeface.

So here is the final result - I am pretty happy with how it turned out and I hope you like it too!