Here, Shinn set himself the formal challenge of designing a typeface that would outdo, in dramatic fashion, two iconic designs from the heyday of the tiny x-height genre, Koch Antiqua (Rudolf Koch, Klingspor Foundry, 1922) and Lucian (Lucian Bernhard, Bauer Foundry, 1925). While these have x-heights of around 41% of ascender height, Buslingthorpe clocks in at 29%. It emerged during the design process that such exaggerated proportion was feasible, while retaining a modicum of readability, thanks to the extensive kerning available in digital fonts—to mitigate the awkwardness of cap to lower case combinations—and the occasional contextual alternate, such as a lowered apostrophe between minuscules.
Buslingthorpe. Essay at Medium. License at Fontspring.
