Leif & Thorn is going to have some characters speaking Tamaputian in the next few months. It’s come up before in the comic, but never in long-ish conversations…so I’m thinking, this is the time to get decisive about fonts.
Way back when Mata and Pato first appeared, they got the occasional line of dialogue in Tamaputian, which was typed in Comfortaa. Very plain, not a lot of character…easy to read, but probably hard to distinguish at a glance from some other fonts.
In the Kolpovision storyline, I gave the singers from Tamapoa a few of their own lines in Tamaputian, and typed those in a version of Ænigma Scrawl. Definitely has its own distinct vibe! …Not sure I actually like how it looks in wordier speech bubbles.
So I’m thinking about switching it again. But to what?
This post has tests of half-a-dozen finalists. Click through, scroll around, tell me which one(s) you like best.
Light spoilers, in the sense of “new background characters will exist, here are some of their faces.”
The Font Tests (click through for full-size):
The finalists, in order: NightWatcher BB, Ænigma Scrawl 4 BR, Bradley Hand ITC (bold), Gorilla Milkshake, Ladylike BB, Pajama Pants Bold.
Favorites? Least favorites? Most readable? Most “nice, but the font should be smaller/bigger”?
Let me know!
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22 Comments
I personally prefer Gorilla Milkshake – it has both “easy to read” and “clearly different from others” down pat. I also feel it gives the strength and condenced power that we have seen so far in the tamaputian race.
If not, my second choice would be ladylike BB.
I agree with you that the scrawl is a little difficult to read in large chunks.
Exact same opinion on all counts so I’m just going to chime in here with an endorsement.
Agree on all points.
Agree!!
Agree on Gorilla. Pajama Pants is a close second, but I prefer the blocky look of Gorilla.
Many of the others look too much like handwriting to me, which I don’t think is ideal for this purpose.
I cast my vote for this font too
Agree with Gorilla Milkshake as my top font, for the same reasons. Second is Pajama Pants Bold, and of the non-bold fonts, Nightwatcher BB is the most legible (although it’s not as immediately obvious that it’s a different language as the other two)
I like Aenigma Scrawl and Ladylike
I favor the two boldest – Gorilla Milkshake and Pajama Pants Bold. They’re the easiest for me to tell apart from the other two.
I concur with Dinglehopper. Aenigma Scrawl and Ladylike are legible, and have a distinct personality, both of which fit well with the personalities of the Tamaputians we’ve met thusfar.
I find Aenigma scrawl and Ladylike pretty hard to read. I’d probably have to zoom the page in to read it easily. I’m on a 2560 x 1440 resolution though, so my experience there is probably not the common one. I find it easier to read on mobile.
I think I like Gorilla Milkshake the best, personally, since it’s pretty easy to read on both my devices.
Aenigma Scrawl looks too difficult to read to me (I also personally dislike it). Bradley Hand is my personal preference, but parsing cursive is very easy for me and it looks like cursive to me. I think most people would struggle with it. Nightwatcher BB looks like it would be good at a slightly larger font and/or in bold. I like Ladylike BB, but I feel like reading a lot of it would cause eyestrain because the letters themselves are distracting. Pajama Pants Bold is very clear, but kind of boring. Gorilla Milkshake is a nice balance of interest and clarity, I think.
So my final votes are Gorilla Milkshake as it is or Nightwatcher BB in a larger size and/or in bold.
Since Ceannis is green, and Sonheim is blue, I would like a dark red, brownish color for Tamaputain.
I find Aenigma Scrawl hard to read, but the rest are fine.
i like Ladylike the best, even with my glasses off it is still readable… in the same use case Aenigma Scrawl is the worst blurred…
Bradley and Ladylike are very similar, but Bradley is… wider; less cramped? (that being said, i still like Ladylike better… probably the first time i’ve ever said that!)
Initial reactions: Aenigma too messy, Gorilla and Pajama Pants too heavy; any of the other three’d probably be fine, but Ladylike’s probably the prettiest and is maybe slightly more legible than the other two.
Just to throw my hat in: At the presented size, I find Gorilla Milkshake and Pajama Pants Bold the easiest to read.
Nightwatcher BB, Ladylike BB and Bradley Hand ITC are okay on shape, but I’d prefer them presented in a larger size, e.g. 14pt instead of 12pt.
Ænigma Scrawl 4 BR blurs together for me on certain combinations of letters, e.g. the
ehalf of the Ash in Ænigma looks like ac, and thecrain Scrawl could have beenero.Put in a vote for Gorilla Milkshake and Pajama Pants Bold from me as well. I enjoy the more bold font, and both have a more wild feel than the Super Formal looking Sonheic and the more casual but capable of formality Ceannic. I don’t know what Tamaputia looks like or how strict or laid back their culture is, so depending on how you envision it, a wild font may be way off base. But I think those two are fun to read, and easier on a small mobile than a lot of others. Could we get another post compared to the Ceannic and Sonheic fonts when you have things narrowed down?
Bradley Hand and Ladylike BB are my favourites in terms of look and distinction, Gorilla Milkshake and Pajama Pants seem the largest and easiest to parse, but my ultimate reaction is that any of them would work long term — except Aenigma Scrawl.
I like Pajama Pants Bold best, with Gorilla Milkshake a close second. NightWatcher BB is ok but a bit thin. The other three are No, Don’t Do That; they’re too like handwriting and I can’t read them at a glance, I actually have to focus to parse them. Bradley Hand ITC is least worst for that but still bad.
Aenigma Scrawl is the worst. I lean towards either Gorilla Milkshake or Bradley Hand, but it would probably be useful to see them each in a panel with the other fonts you use.
Also, Comfortaa was both easy to read and visually distinct from the other fonts, if you want to keep that after all.
I like Pajama Pants Bold the best. On higher screen res it’s easy to read without the letters blurring together (like Gorilla does for me). I also like the concept of Tamaputians being small in size but bold in language.
Aenigma is unreadable for me in current size. Bradley is already supposed to be bold, but it’s so faint (if it was more darker I’d like it best). Nightwatcher and Ladylike are acceptable but not as colourful.
I found Pajama Pants and Gorilla Milkshake too similar to existing fonts. Ladylike BB and Aenigma Scrawl are the most distinctive, but some of the letters in Aenigma crunch together in a way that makes it hard to read, so I’d vote for Ladylike first, and Bradley Hand second.
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