Good Typography Reflects How Many Nuances You’ve Taken Care Of In the Design Process I share 3 commonly repeated mistakes with lots of examples so you can level up your logotype and typography design skills. Fonts used in the presentation: - Instrument Serif - Futura - Montserrat

1. 10 Letterforms Mistakes
You Make When Designing
Custom Logotypes

2. “A grid is like underwear, you wear it
but it’s not to be exposed.”
― Massimo Vignelli

3. Metrical Adjustments VS Optical Adjustments
Amateur designers think the only way to achieve balance is to:
Rigidly follow the grid
and measurements
Design symmetrically
when possible
Extremely apply
simplicity
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4. Mistake 01 –
Perfect Symmetry
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5. Example 01: Flipping The Stress Axis When Designing
the Letters ‘p’ and ‘q’ (The Same With ‘b’ and ‘d’)
The letter ‘q’ is designed by
flipping the letter ‘p’.
The letter ‘p’ is designed by
flipping the letter ‘q’.
The Optical Letter Combination
The stress axis is the axis at which the stroke is the thinnest
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6. Example 02: Replicating the White Space In The
Letter ‘s’ By Flipping the Upper Or The Lower Part
The letter feels like falling
backward as the lower part is
designed by rotating the upper part.
The letter feels failing forward
as the upper part is designed
by rotating the lower part.
The Optical Letter has a
bigger white space in the
bottom to
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7. Example 03: Rotate the Letter ‘u’ to Design the
Letter ‘n’ (The Same With the ‘w’ and ‘m’)
The letter ‘n’ is created by
rotating the letter ‘u’.
Notice the removed lower serifs.
The letter ‘u’ is created by
rotating the letter ‘n’.
Notice the added upper serifs.
The Optical Combination:
Notice how they are distinguishable
from all distances
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8. Example 04: Duplicating the Letter ‘n’ To Design
the Letter ‘m’ (The Same With The ‘v’ and ‘w’)
Notice the placement
of the vertical bars and
the connections
Notice the increased
weight on the duplicated
version
Optical Letterform
Metrical Letterform
Optical Letterform
Metrical Letterform
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9. Example 05: The Thin Line Bottom Part Is Aligned
With the Thin Line Upper Part
The Metrical Letterform:
The thin line is straight
resulting in the letter looking
like falling backward
The Optical Letterform:
The thin line is offset in
the upper part resulting in
a well-balanced letterform.
The Optical
Solution needs
specific attention
to the strokes at
the joints.
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10. Mistake 02 –
Rigid With The Grid
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11. Example 06: Extending All Horizontal Bars In The
Capital Letter ‘E’ and ‘F’
The Metrical Version:
The horizontal bars have
the same vertical end.
The Optical Version:
Each horizontal bar is adjusted optically.
The bottom is the tallest, the top is slightly
less taller, and the middle is the shortest
Notice that we can
expand all bars and still
have an optically
balanced letterform.
That usually happens
by pushing the middle
bar to the top just a
little
**
11

12. Mistake 03–(Simplicity)
Monoline Strokes
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13. Example 07 – The Letter ‘O’ Form And Counter-
Form Are a Perfect Circle
The Metrical Letterform.
It looks like two concentric
circles, not a letter.
The Optical Letterform:
the inside shape is an oval,
not a perfect circle.
Notice the removed area of
the letterform to optimize
the look of the letter
13

14. Example 08 –The Letter ‘T’ Horizontal Bar and the
Stem Width Are Equal
The Metrical
Letterform:
The
horizontal bar
seems thicker
although it
shares the
weight of the
vertical bar.
A comparison between
the Metrical letterform
and the Optical
letterform
The Optical
Letterform:
The horizontal
bar height is
less than the
vertical bar
width. The
letterform ‘T’
looks balanced
14

15. Example 09 – All Strokes, the Straight and the
Sheered Are Based On the Stem (Vertical Bar) Width
The Metrical Letterform:
Notice how all strokes share the
same width of the vertical stroke.
The Optical Letterform:
Notice how the stroke weights
vary to balance the letterform
+ Notice the joints, how the
strokes are connected
The optical solution needs
different stroke weights for
the angled strokes (the arm
and the leg)
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16. Example 10 – The Whole Curve and the Horizontal
Bar Width Are Equal
The Metrical Letterform has
a monoline stroke weight
The Optical Letterform
has various stroke weights
Notice the stroke weight
optimizations done for the
horizontal bar and the curves
16

17. Metrical Designs are good to set the basis, but not
enough for a well-balanced letterform.
Optical adjustments, hence, are necessary; we see
from our eyes, not from measurement tools
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18. To Avoid Letterform Mistakes,
Design For the Human’s Eyes,
Not For the Grid…
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19. But the mistakes do not only stop here…
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20. Letterforms create words, and hence we
need optical adjustments for the overall
word, not only for individual letters.
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21. Wordmark (Metrically Adjusted)
If you see no mistake, zoom out.
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22. Wordmark (Optically Adjusted)
Without these overshoots, each letter size will seem different although
they all share the same height. (Compare with the previous slide)
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23. But the mistakes do not only stop here…
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24. Words create sentences, and hence we need
optical adjustments for the overall paragraph,
not only for individual words.
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25. Wordmark Applications
The word ‘Group’ feels pushed a little to the right
although it shares the same vertical starting line.
The word ‘Group’ feels balanced when
it overshoots the vertical starting line.
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26. Good Typography Reflects How Many Nuances
You’ve Taken Care Of In the Design Process
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27. Thank You
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