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Briem’s notes on type design: Useful texts

These two sets of text will help spacing the lower case.

nnannbnncnndnnenn
nnfnngnnhnninnjnn
nnknnlnnmnnonnpnn
nnqnnrnnsnntnnunn
nnvnnwnnxnnynnznn
ooaooboocoodooeoo
oofoogoohooioojoo
ookooloomoonoopoo
ooqooroosootoouoo
oovoowooxooyoozoo

You can add accented letters to this test, and of course the characters ß æ œ ø &. Double characters may need special attention, such as gg and zz. Stick them in as required.

These two sets of text are good for spacing capitals.

HAHBHCHDHEHFH
HGHIHJHKHLHMHNH
NHOHPHQHRHSHTH
HUHVHWHXHYHZH
OAOBOCODOEOFO
OGOHOIOJOKOLOMO
ONOPOQOROSOTO
OUOVOWOXOYOZO

With capitals you space accented capitals and whatever else you can think of.

Capitals and lower case must fit together. These two sets of text are useful for finding uneven spots.

nnAnnBnnCnn
nnDnnEnnFnnGnnHnn
nnInnJnnKnnLnnMnn
nnNnnOnnPnnQnnRnn
nnSnnTnnUnnVnnWnn
nnXnnYnnZnn
ooAooBooCoo
ooDooEooFooGooHoo
ooIooJooKooLooMoo
ooNooOooPooQooRoo
ooSooTooUooVooWoo
ooXooYooZoo

Punctuation, of course, must fit everything else. That’s the comma, period, semicolon and colon at the very least.

Half a dozen alphabet sentences

These are my favorites. There are many more.

  1. Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
  2. Thief, give back my prized wax jonquils!
  3. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
  4. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
  5. Sixty zippers were quickly picked from the woven jute bag.
  6. Jaded zombies acted quaintly but kept driving their oxen forward.

Notes on type design. Copyright © 1998, 2001, 2022 Gunnlaugur SE Briem. All rights reserved. Republished with permission in 2022 by Fontlab Ltd.