Design an Italic Typeface

- [Charles] Families share traits. Some are inherited, others are learned. It's the similarities that distinguish the family unit but it's the differences between the members that make family life interesting. This is a course about making italic type faces. It's also about building a tight family. It's about the tricky bit of preserving common traits while encouraging differences. I'll start with a little background about italics, where they came from, how they evolved, and how they're used today and from there, we'll work with a sample Roman font, taking a practical look at what it takes to make a companion italic.

We'll look at the slant, stem widths, the shape of serifs, and some fundamental differences in form with the Roman. Then we'll look at the technical considerations in spacing in italic, including generating fonts and testing them in conjunction with the Roman. And finally, I'll give a few resources for learning more about the italic form and typography in general.