Font family naming for large families

1

Hi there
I’v made a large family with different axis (optical size, width, weight, slant). Which means that the family gets quite big when I make the different instances.
What is the best practice?
To have one family name like, MyFamilyName with 50 styles or to have different family names like MyFamilyName Condensed, MyFamilyName Expanded, MyFamilyName Display etc.

Thanks,
Andreas

2

Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but I’m in favour of the division into sub-families. An endless drop-down menu isn’t very practical.

1 Like
3

I would split different optical sizes into separate families.

2 Likes
4

A disadvantage of separating into families is that they get sorted alphabetically, meaning you’ll get something like Condensed, Extended, Normal, Semi Condensed, etc. I find one long but sorted list easier to use than a few unsorted ones. However, optical sizes won’t sort well either way, so it makes sense to split those.

5

Thanks for the feedback.
What would the best way to split it into families? Would that be to set the localized family on the instances?

6

In each instance, set a parameter Localized Family Name with the new family name.

7

Thanks!