One thing that bugs me a bit is the the two symbols looking a bit like // in the right lower corner (R2 / R3 C15) being right next to each other.
Also (but this is even less sever than the previous item) the three symbols at the right border of the left halve (R0-R3 C6) look a bit uniform and slim to me. I think something “open” or “less straight” on the right would better fill the void on that side.
In case anyone want’s to know what things would look like with my suggested changes, have a look here.
You can use the “Next Font!” button in the lower left to switch between jgbamum and notobamum. (And if you like experimenting you can manipulate the url to change the character arrangement.)
P.S.: Some symbols are currently rotated by 90 deg, don’t know yet why.
P.P.S.: This was tested in Chrome 54 and iOS 10 Safari, no idea if other browsers will work.
P.P.P.S.: The plan was to allow swapping characters with drag-n-drop, but I don’t know if / when I will have the time to implement that.
In general, even line widths and low complexity are good. Because the lines are being cut with a laser, rather than printed, the simpler the designs, the better quality we’re going to get.
It would be incredibly useful to get that information. Getting details on the laser supplier’s capabilities has been like pulling teeth. I finally got out of them, last week or so, that they can take PDFs for the toolpaths. (This is what I expected, but getting it confirmed was a bit of a nightmare.)
The way things seem to work with Chinese manufacturers is for us to tell them our ideal and then have them tell us whether they can hit it (or how much it will cost to hit it.)
We made the decision to go with a rounded font (The tres-hip Gotham Rounded) long before we settled on a vendor, partially to mitigate any possible issues with sharp serifs.
So, um. with that information in mind, I think the right thing to do is to figure out an ideal and then see if they can do a good job with it.
I’d pick @TimNN’s latest Noto Bamum keycaps over anything else I’ve seen (though I’d still prefer to have my own custom legends if that’s not prohibitively expensive – but I wouldn’t want those until after I’ve had the keyboard long enough to decide on a final layout).
both jgb and noto are nice. Looks like line weight on the noto might be more aesthetic according to what @jesse says about the manufacturer’s laser abilities/limitations.
I can’t wait to get one and have the office folk just stare in confusion and amazement.
I’m still torn between the two as well. The Noto Bamum looks like a proper human language font, properly suited for a keyboard, while the Mende is really out there - science fiction, alchemy, and all sorts of things that look both totally out of place but also kinda… right? on a keyboard this unusual.
How do we move ahead now? Most people seem to be happy with either of the Bamum layout variants or the Mende layout, with slight preferences going in different directions.
Should we put it to a vote, once @algernon (or another volunteer) has updated the Mende proposal?
Is there a chance that we can get this done and included in the pilot run?