sPECtreJun 25
Maurice Meilleur

Still gathering Schrofer code … one recent update to @drawBot broke my original code for recreating the script patterns on the covers of Mouton's Les Textes Sociologiques series, but: revisions, et voila. Reconstruction, examples of the original covers, Schrofer's plan on graph paper, and a field showing the gamut of the variable font's horizontal/vertical stroke:counter axes.

Archive images courtesy the Jurriaan Schrofer Archive, Allard Pierson Museum, University of Amsterdam.

Jun 25 at 1:51amWeb
Show threadRoel NieskensJun 25
@MauriceMeilleur I thought that was DJR's Fit at first, but it isn't it seems. Is it a real font?
Show threadMaurice MeilleurJun 25
@pixelambacht The original lettering is Schrofer’s, a variable ‘font’ before its time. I created an actual variable font with axes that match his system to reconstruct the patterns.
Show threadMaurice MeilleurJun 25
@pixelambacht You'd have to ask @djrrb himself but I don't recall him mentioning Schrofer as a reference. The variation logics differ in that Fit has constant counter dimensions as you vary height and width that match the sidebearings and default linespacing. In Schrofer's design the height and width change the ratio of horizontal and vertical strokes:counters, but one side of each of those paired dimensions always matches the sidebearings/default linespacing.
Show threadDavid Jonathan RossJun 25
@MauriceMeilleur @pixelambacht I don’t think I heard of Schrofer until you started this project, but yes a lot of similarities!
Show threadRoel NieskensJun 26
@djrrb @MauriceMeilleur I "knew" Schrofer and Crouwel because of their 80s computer aesthetic (as I interpreted it at the time). I love seeing these graphics. I can imagine these graphics moving on an old 320x200 screen!