Spring in Minneapolis

The upper case characters are really nice, with that 20th century modernist feel, but I have the impression the lower case is less thought out. It seems too similar to Frutiger and Ergo ... not that these are bad influences, of course!

Is there a trend toward using the rounded capital E as seen here? I've been noticing a lot of typefaces with that style lately.

>Is there a trend toward using the rounded capital E>

yes, i think you are right. i've been working on a face with a rounded E for a long time. but i might have to reconsider it now.

Locator's Display cut has a coolness.

hhp

On my part I always loved that E. I used it as an alternate in Neoritmo, but a similar E was in my earlier (1995) rendition of System (a typeface based on the eeearly 1990s System 7 logo by David James, from which he and Gareth Hague started to design MetSys, which has "regular" Es anyway).
Not-so-recent examples coming to mind are (apart from scripts, for which this E is quite "natural") Engine by Alex Scholing, Dyadis and Eplica by Yvonne Dietrich (I was very surprised by Dyadis, because it shared a lot of the ideas in play with Neoritmo, with different premises and objectives, though), Eidetic Italic by Rodrigo Cavazos, Suburban by Rudy Vanderlans (whose E is really great) and, more recently, Tarzana by Zuzana Licko (1998).
I'm sure I forgot a lot of them. Ah! Conduit Italic by Martk VanBronkhorst (helped by Alan Dague Greene) uses it, also, if I recall correctly.
More uncommon is the kind of uppercase S I'm obsessed with.
And, Magnus, if you were referring to Eyecon, don't drop letters just because they are fashionable at the moment. What's important is the inner integrity of your face(s).

And, after all, that E, e has a form very close to the one of an epsilon. At least this is with a close sound (Futura's original n and Manson's N use the same form of a greek Pi. I like it very much but it could be confusing, given the different sounds associated in latin and greek).

And that alternate F in Locator was exactly the kind of F I had drawn for System in 1995 (which was of course based on David's logotype E, sharing the top part of the E we're talking about. Please note that Hague and James used in the lowercase of MetSys a form derived from the t instead, which I always found hard to read, as it's the a, too easily confused with an o in small point sizes).
These forms fascinates me because they are purely synthetical. You would never write such a t while using a pen or a pencil. It all relates to the discourse Nick Shinn did about the conception of his daring typeface Morphica (quite "rigid" but very, very interesting!)

> You would never write such a t while using a pen or a pencil.

You would never write, period.

The only writing done these days is either for nostalgic bravado, or -much more often- as a transitory and very personal thing (like grocery shopping lists) that the writer already know what it says, and nobody else reads (because they don't need to).

The sooner we get over senile chirography, the better [text] type we will make.

hhp

Speak for yourself, Hrant,
I write a lot.

But who reads what you write (I mean before it's typed up)?

hhp

>>And, Magnus, if you were referring to Eyecon, don?t drop letters just because they are fashionable at the moment. What?s important is the inner integrity of your face(s).>>

you are right claudio. and no, i won't drop it. eyecon will be completed.

magnus