On that note, a couple of months after the announcement of the new 1.8 OpenType Variable format, Adobe published their own prototype Variable Font on GitHub, a prototype with source code that includes, apart from the basic functions, the code for the new FeatureVariations table. FeatureVariations allow character switching for typographic tweaks in specific regions of the design space. We call them jumps. Thanks to Miguel Sousa, the code is available online for everyone to read and adapt. Protipo Variable uses this technique for ten characters switching in three different values (at weight 400: ‘$’, ‘¢’, at 440: ‘€’, ‘¥’, ‘Q’, and at 600: ‘Ø’, ‘ø’, ‘ð’), values which are appropriately tuned for each character.
For a complete list of articles and video presentations on Variable Fonts visit the new Resources page on Axis-Praxis. For beautiful examples of web uses, visit the Codepen collections of Mandy Michael and Jason Pamental. And lastly, if you want to play with Protipo Variable, please visit our online specimen on Axis-Praxis: Protipo, and if you want to experience the full potential of Protipo Variable in your projects, simply get the full Protipo bundle. The variable font format is included.
Jump, stretch, and enjoy!
Article written by Irene Vlachou and edited by Joshua Farmer.