Chrisb222 Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 Arial Narrow all caps ~97% Chief Blueprint ~3% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjanderson66 Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 On 11/11/2019 at 10:51 AM, Renerabbitt said: Sorry chief but I really dislike your font. The weird bubbly and squigly arms, the narrow bowls, the squigly cross stroke, the loops at apex and vertex, the narrow stem to thick bowl at the foot...all looks very cartoonish...also, a bad habit of mine is recognizing CA font and then for some reason picking apart their work...I'm usually for lifting the community up, I have no idea why I get competitive when seeing this font in plan sets. Personal gripe on my own temperament Graphite Standard was an old favorite I have since left behind Technical is nice but a little too lightweight on ANSI B..moe suitable on ANSI/ARCH D Blueprintdbt is a standard with multiple drafters I collaborate with, it is very very similar to CA's font but slightly less cartoonish...believe it was created by one of our very own users way back...Dan something. I personally like to stay away from hand drawn looking fonts. I know their is an argument to be made in favor for. Great for small business, that homey feel, personal connection for clients and builders...but their is something so impressive looking about a plan-set drafted with a sans-serif font like Eurostile...I also find it easier to read....look at this way over exposed scan of a plan done with Century Gothic: You'd be hard pressed to find a top tier commercial architecture firm around here that uses any kind of hand lettering font. It's considered unprofessional. Very few people hand drafting anymore, why are we faking it...if my work represents me I don't want any smoke and mirrors...I can't letter for crap, I've got two left hands so-to-speak...why would I try and convince you otherwise, haha. anywho...my two cents Rene, I would agree with you when it come to notes that the Century Gothic looks nice for notes and in schedules for a clean look. Here is were we seem to disagree. Architecture has lost a bit of the creative aspect by going to the computer with the lack of artistic appeal of the old drawing on a napkin feel. Architecture is a creative job left brain right brain and being brought up hand drafting and moving away from from it, I have always wanted to try and keep that feel. Your plan is clean (with the exception of those horrible arrow lines and arrows) not a fan maybe it is just me. That is another conversation that I have with CA. I personally like the Graphite Std or the ARchD for my plans as it still has a personal feel and I get a lot of compliments on my plans. That being said we all have our personal likes and dislikes and I changes things up often to as my personal likes change too... My two cents as well. SMITH floor plans only.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renerabbitt Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 24 minutes ago, cjanderson66 said: (with the exception of those horrible arrow lines and arrows) I laughed at this, I only used that plan as an example because it was scanned horribly, I'm not a big fan either..actually not a fan of any of chief arrows but we can't make our own that I know of. I definitely get your point, I've certainly heard the argument before, I use my personality, site meetings, hand drawn sketches, mood boards to, design albums to bring the personal touch to my client coupled with whatever fun I can bring in between...then my work product when it hits their desk is a resounding reminder of my core skill-sets...I feel a sans-serif font best represent the feeling I mean to evoke...definitely depends on your client base right? I'm working on a project that will likely take me years as it is for my own home...I plan on making it a graphically masterpiece...I want it to read like a graphic novel...I may end up hand lettering it myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkwest Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 From a construction viewpoint, when creating a planset, the designer must not lose sight of what is needed when the designer is trying to convey what the customer wants to the construction workers onsite without anyone having to decipher whether something is an 8, 5 or a 3. That is why I like clear, easy to read fonts. BTW, I have never heard a framer or roofer discussing the artistic appeal of the plans... ;-) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjanderson66 Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 13 minutes ago, parkwest said: From a construction viewpoint, when creating a planset, the designer must not lose sight of what is needed when the designer is trying to convey what the customer wants to the construction workers onsite without anyone having to decipher whether something is an 8, 5 or a 3. That is why I like clear, easy to read fonts. BTW, I have never heard a framer or roofer discussing the artistic appeal of the plans... ;-) You are absolutely right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
para-CAD Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 1 hour ago, parkwest said: From a construction viewpoint, when creating a planset, the designer must not lose sight of what is needed when the designer is trying to convey what the customer wants to the construction workers onsite without anyone having to decipher whether something is an 8, 5 or a 3. That is why I like clear, easy to read fonts. BTW, I have never heard a framer or roofer discussing the artistic appeal of the plans... ;-) I'm a former framer. I agree that the artsy part of a plan's font choice held minimal value to me in building the structure. I hated when the plans became a bit scuffed up and the hand written fonts were even more illegible. Now-a-days, I guess I would have a PDF of every plan on my phone or tablet as a back up so I could have a pristine reference copy. But I don't frame any more so who knows. Commercial plans (hotels/apartments) were typically arial or similar and were designed for maximum clarity. If some want/like the simulated handwritten look. Fine. Whatever. As long as the information is clear and easily understood, that should be the driving focus....make it easy to build it according to plan. 2 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjanderson66 Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 Damnit, I hate you all!!!! Now I find myself changing my fonts as I am tending to agree with Rene on Century Gothic. This means I am now going to have to change all my preferances and my template sheet. What have you done to me! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridge_Runner Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 34 minutes ago, cjanderson66 said: Damnit, I hate you all!!!! Now I find myself changing my fonts as I am tending to agree with Rene on Century Gothic. This means I am now going to have to change all my preferances and my template sheet. What have you done to me! I love it! Not to relish in your misery, but I also find myself evaluating my own plansets after this thread. I have always liked the hand-lettered look. I never really mastered the quality some did in their skills at hand lettering, but I always tried. Did pretty good, but when computers came along, I went to Arial for a long time. I use "Handdf Double" for most all text now; I just like the look. However, I sometimes notice some of the dimensions get a little cramped and I have to rearrange the dim text to clear things up. Like Christopher, I am going to go back to maybe Arial for a planset or two. This thread follows my own desire to always make my plansets better and clear. But, I do like the "artsy" side. I also like to see how others do their plansets; thanks to all who have shared so far. Good thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenPalmer Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 Great thread! Appreciate everyone's input. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DzinEye Posted November 15, 2019 Share Posted November 15, 2019 On 11/11/2019 at 10:51 AM, Renerabbitt said: I personally like to stay away from hand drawn looking fonts. I know their is an argument to be made in favor for. Great for small business, that homey feel, personal connection for clients and builders...but their is something so impressive looking about a plan-set drafted with a sans-serif font like Eurostile...I also find it easier to read... You'd be hard pressed to find a top tier commercial architecture firm around here that uses any kind of hand lettering font. It's considered unprofessional. Very few people hand drafting anymore, why are we faking it... How fun to run into this font debate! Rene, for the same reasons you express here I made the jump away from hand style fonts many years ago. Can't tell you how many debates on this topic I've had with associates and peers over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DzinEye Posted November 15, 2019 Share Posted November 15, 2019 I didn't realize this went on for another page! I just couldn't resist responding when I read Rene's post almost exactly mirroring my own thoughts. Had to laugh at Chris Anderson's last post. Maybe use the hand font in early design phases when providing materials just for the owner(s), esp. if using squiggle in the drawings. For CD's go with a modern font. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneDavis Posted November 15, 2019 Author Share Posted November 15, 2019 All these remarks, and thanks again for all of them, have me wanting to change from CB to something else, but as someone who began in high school doing ink-on-linen mods to old, old drawings, I am partial to the hand-lettered look. The guys I do work for really don't care what I use as long as they can read it. So, for the fonts I have here on my PC running Windows 10, I looked things over and am going with Graphite STD. Clear no squiggles, not as "hand" as the others, and looks good for numbers, which is the most important thing, IMHO. Attached is a quick study I did for comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskogg Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 I have adopted Agency Fb for all my text. I agree blueprint has had its day and now is old school. Because Agency Fb is compact it looks ok to do all caps if this is your choice. What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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