As I used the font, I started tweaking the letter-spacing and font-weight directly in the browser until it started to feel more like something I would actually want to read.
From there, I could move to my font editor and apply those changes more thoughtfully. As promised, here I am at the end of January with some new lighter weights for Ottavio!
I liked that Ottavioâs diagonal axis and thick/thin contrast really shine through in the new Light and Extra Light weights. But, it made the Bold I did recently feel low-contrast by comparison.
I didnât want heavier weights clogging up at small sizes anyway, so I also also added a bit of contrast to the Bold and Extra Bold, on top of the weight change.
As I used the font, I started tweaking the letter-spacing and font-weight directly in the browser until it started to feel more like something I would actually want to read.
From there, I could move to my font editor and apply those changes more thoughtfully. Thank you again for your patience as I worked to get caught up to my usual schedule.
In the two weeks since I wrote you last, it dawned on me that I might be doing this thing I tend to do, where I make a font that sits in the valley between Display and Text.
Ottavioâs namesake won the Tour de France, but should the font be a sprinter or a long-distance cyclist? Was I selling Ottavio short if I didnât at least take a stab at optimizing it for extended text?