Typography Studio

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---
name: typography-design-review
description: Design, refine and evaluate typefaces using editable font sources and real rendered proofs. Use for glyph construction, optical corrections, spacing, kerning, italics, font families, variable fonts, OpenType exports, or typographic hierarchy and readability. Inspect actual images, identify the font in use, and distinguish technical validity, visual judgment and measured reading performance. Works with the user's own brief, fonts and tools, without a required brand, family or design style.
---

# Type design and visual review

Work from a brief to a coherent system of forms, then draw, render, inspect,
correct and document. Use the user's language for explanations and reports.
Do not approve a drawing because its files compile or its curves are smooth.

For requests in Spanish, read [the Spanish instructions](SKILL.es.md) and use
the Spanish references and templates linked there. Keep the same technical
identifiers and evidence requirements in either language.

## Select the resources

- New design or inconsistent tone: [brief-to-form.md](references/brief-to-form.md).
- Drawing a new control set: [construction-workbench.md](references/construction-workbench.md).
- Shapes, spacing, kerning or confusion: [optical-review.md](references/optical-review.md).
- Weights, italics, variable fonts or exports: [families-and-exports.md](references/families-and-exports.md).
- Sizes, headings, leading, measure or responsive composition: [reading-and-hierarchy.md](references/reading-and-hierarchy.md).
- Specifications or release decisions: [standards-and-acceptance.md](references/standards-and-acceptance.md).
- Construction exercises and feedback: [practice-and-calibration.md](references/practice-and-calibration.md).
- Teaching influences and attribution: [formation-and-design.md](references/formation-and-design.md) and [sources.md](references/sources.md).
- Deterministic helpers: [tooling.md](references/tooling.md).

## 1. Establish the intended use

Recover the role, audience, tone, languages/scripts, sizes, platforms, formats
and ownership of the sources. Infer what the user already supplied; ask only
for consequential missing information while continuing independent work.

Record a brief with [brief-template.md](assets/brief-template.md). Define
observable constraints: proportions, contrast, curves, terminals, apertures,
weight, rhythm and recognition. A label such as "sans" or "serif" does not
determine a voice. Select licensed references for comparison, not for tracing.

For a new Latin design, begin with H/O/n/o and then critical e/s/r/a structures
in words. Choose appropriate controls for another script. Do not extrapolate
a complete alphabet from an unreviewed control set. For existing fonts, inspect
the user's actual words before inventing a replacement design.

## 2. Identify and preserve the artifacts

Identify editable sources, exported binaries, version and SHA-256. Preserve
the prior iteration. Avoid bootstrap scripts that replace existing drawings.
Build a new candidate into a new directory; record the compiler and options.

Use the project's supported editor/compiler. UFO/designspace, Glyphs or SFD
sources are inputs to editing, not interchangeable finished binaries. Do not
rename a font's metadata and describe that as a new original drawing.

`scripts/inspect_font.py` reports metadata and corpus coverage without changing
the font. It does not evaluate curves, shaping or aesthetics. Missing glyphs,
silent fallback, synthetic styles and horizontal transforms invalidate evidence
about a drawing. Mark uncovered material as not evaluated.

## 3. Produce proofs and actually inspect them

Use the real binary in an available rendering engine. Wait for font loading
and verify the face used by the renderer. Keep size, weight, axis position,
baseline, text, viewport, spacing and polarity comparable between iterations.

Prepare whole words and phrases at intended sizes, then enlarged silhou

Preview of the first 4,000 characters. Read full instructions →

Referenced files: 40 — file references are metadata, not package contents.