The font, Artists LeWitt

Background

Making fonts has always been a mysterious field for me to explore, and I was so curious to try it out.

So in 2023, when I was designing a gallery and watchface app, this idea drove me to make a font and create all the design with the font, which is pretty immature using the standars today.

If you take a closer look at the sketchs, you will find this font is not even monospaced! But it does prove that fonts are critical for our designs and helped me understand how to conceive a design and land it.

Unfortunately, I lost all code and the font file many years later because I didn’t upload it to Github, only keeping the design file in the cloud (PS: YOU SHOULD NEVER LEARN THIS BAD HABIT).

But I do want to remake this font!

Reformat the shapes

I opened the design file. And found it’s kinda tricky to directly use these raw shapes.

These shapes are just unions, and framed with 4 lines! Each of them was just handcrafted and got bad metrics. I even forget to polish a corner of the glyph of 4.

So the first thing is to reformat these shapes. I want to keep the bold, immature and wild design idea, so I stil uses a 2x3 grid as the number grid.

First thing is to setup all the reference lines. Normally, a font will get a line height of 1000 units, with the baseline placed around 200 units above the bottom. This means the glyph does not simply live inside a visual canvas; it lives inside a coordinate system where the baseline, ascender, descender, and advance width all decide how the font behaves in real layouts.

For this font, I chose a 700 × 1000 design box. The glyphs themselves take 720 units in height, leaving enough vertical breathing room while still looking heavy and compact. I placed the glyph slightly above the baseline, from y=10 to y=730 in font coordinates. This keeps the numbers visually centered without making them feel like they are floating too high.

And now, draw these shapes!

Simple, easy, and interesting. With the help of Figma, I finished it in 20 minutes.

And I want to talk about the glyphs 6 and 9. I drew the idea of composing this shape from rain drops. They are tiny, light, but delightful creatures among the world. So I let them lean on one side, and polished all of them carefully.

Make the actual font file

Ah, come to the worst part.

Last time I tried to make a font, I used FontLab manually. It was just like putting an idiot in an aircraft cockpit and let him drive the plane! Not only the result, but also the process is terrible for me.

So I wanted to figure out if there have any way to create a font without touching these sophisticated gadgets? And the answer is YES.

Thanks to FontForge, we can create a font with python and svg. And here are the key code.

import os
import fontforge

# 1. Font Metadata & Metrics Setup
font = fontforge.font()
font.familyname = "Artists"
font.fontname = "Artists LeWitt"
font.fullname = "Artists LeWitt"

font.em = 1000
font.ascent = 810
font.descent = 190

# Ensure modern software uses typo metrics for consistent line spacing
font.os2_typoascent = 810
font.os2_typodescent = -190
font.os2_tyolinegap = 0
font.os2_use_typo_metrics = True

# 2. Import SVGs & Process Glyphs
for i in range(10):
    char = str(i)
    svg_path = os.path.join("./LeWitt", f"{char}.svg")
    if os.path.exists(svg_path):
        # Create glyph by Unicode codepoint and import SVG vector
        glyph = font.createChar(ord(char), char)
        glyph.importOutlines(svg_path)
        
        # Clean up vector paths and set advance width
        glyph.correctDirection()
        glyph.removeOverlap()
        glyph.round()
        glyph.width = 700

# 3. Export Font Files
font.generate("LeWitt.otf", flags=("opentype",))
font.generate("LeWitt.ttf", flags=("opentype",))

Export the svgs, install FontForge, and run ffpython build_font.py, everything done! Now I can type with this font.

Name it boldly

But wait…How should I name this font? The raw name of it is just “Artist” because of the bold geo shapes. But I do get some other inspiration with this font. So maybe set the font family name as “Artists” and use some famous artists’ names? That’s a good idea!

And well done after talking with Gemini, the name is Artists LeWitt. Sol LeWitt once wrote, “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.”

When I was renaming this font, this exact quote echoed in my mind. This font didn’t start with professional bézier curves or meticulous typography theories; it started with a pure, raw concept: How can I build a bold, heavy visual identity entirely constrained within a strict 2x3 grid?

By naming it Artists LeWitt, I wanted to pay tribute to that philosophy. The python script is the renderer, the grid is the rule, and the initial spark from years ago is the machine. I’m glad this machine is running again.

Another idea

I also got another idea and drew it. The glyphs look heavily padded, almost like helium-filled balloons or bold street graffiti, giving off a strong Pop Art energy.

So how can I name this font?