Intial Hebrew trials

The Ubuntu project is going full speed. We have started intial work on the Hebrew and would like to share a few thoughts with you. This PDF illustrates how we arrived at some of the basic proportions.

Pages 1 to 5 deal with the proportional relationship of the Hebrew height against the Latin x- and cap heights. From the start it was clear to us that a Hebrew to full cap height would be too big so we set it at 90% of cap height (T1). The other extreme is set just above x-height (T2). We then proceeded to create two variations in between to allow us to make an informed decision in regards to the correct proportion.

Examining the proofs in pages 1 to 5 our design team agreed that T2 and instance 400 are too small to stand up against the Latin. Instance 600 was closer and was considered but in the end we all felt that T1 provided the right proportional relationship, and also feels the right size within itself. Page 6 shows some sample setting of T1 and I feel it sits very comfortably on the page. Page 7 displays a glyph overview of the characters designed so far.

We are aware that the design of the glyphs still needs a lot of work but their design allows us to establish the basic grid, the proportions and how some design details are to be treated. At present we would like to hear your opinion in regards to its proportional relationship with the Latin, also bearing in mind that the Hebrew will be used within a GUI environment.

Bruno Maag