Following the changes to the base letterforms, I moved onto the lowercase. Having already established the x-height though the numerals, it was just a case of creating the letterforms around these.
I did these letters in various stages due to the nature of the different letters. I started with the very simple letterforms which sit between the baseline and x-height. Of these, I started with those that circle circles/are very simple.
The 'o', 'a', 'c' and 'e' all use perfect circles are were very simple to create. The style of 'a' was decided on because it is more contemporary to use an 'a' like this than the more traditional kind. It also works to the use of a perfect circle.
The end cuts on the 'c' are the same as those used in the uppercase version. This is also the same with the cutoff in 'e'.
The 'n' and 'u' use slightly smaller circles. This is to follow the structure decided on in the uppercase with these letters being thinner than the 'O'. There is also a lot of space in these letters, so when these are too wide, it is very noticeable. The 'x' follows the same width as these.
Following these I moved onto the letters which are slightly different. These all followed the same width as the 'n', 'u' and 'x'.
In terms of the 'r', I initially tried the same cutoff angle as the 's', but found that this point made the letter wide and just not sit well. I tried the 'c' cutoff and it seemed to work much better.
I then moved onto the 'w' and 'm' as these are the last that sit between the x-height.
These were simply made up of two v's and two n's.
Following this I moved onto the letters which have an ascender and descender height involved. I decided on a descender height which matched the ascender to keep consistency.
The majority of these letters are very simple, with the 'f' and 'k' being the only exception. The 'f' followed the same design as the b, d, p and q, before being cut off in the centre of the circle to create the letterform.
The k was slightly different in the way it was made up. Initially I had tried the arm to the x-height, however it just looked too low, so I added a slight bit more height to it and it looked much better. I didn't necessarily want to break the grid, but I do think it was necessary for this letter.
Following this I had a few more letters left. I started with the 'i' and 't'. I have left these until now because they need a bit of consideration into where the Terminal Height will be. I did initially try this at the ascender height, however the dot on the 'i' looks far too heigh, and the 't' looks a bit strange.
I moved these up and down until I eventually found a height which seemed to work well for both. I also moved the height of the 'i' stem to he height of the 't' crossbar to create a bit of consistency across these characters.
Following these, I worked on three letters which I had not done yet - the 'g', 'j' and 'y'.
I was having issues with these all moving down to the descender height, particularly the 'g'. I feel that it just does not look right at all. The bottom half looks too low and really unbalances the whole character. With this, I decided to create an alternative descender height. It is not something that I necessarily wanted to do, but I think it definitely benefits the letters.
Completed Lowercase
Overall I am really happy with the way the lowercase has worked out. I think that it works really well and is consistent with the uppercase. I'm happy with all the letters and found that they were all relatively easy to make.
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