On the last two pages, you can see Kris’s first sketches for the additional weights. Please don’t look too closely at the Italic caps – they’re uncorrected obliques. We tried not to get too clever with characters like k and z, but had a bit of fun with v, w and y, trying to get a hint of the original’s angled terminals worked in. I know it brings it away from the original, but I think it helps to make it look more like a real serif italic with a strong base in tradition. Kris prefers the spurred bowls on a, b and q, but I could go either way with them. We’ve passed the Italic back and forth a few times and we’re both pretty happy with it now. Kris and I have been plugging away at Meta Serif.

In the end, I think we’d end up with a serif and slab that could be used together, and they’d be compatible with both FF Meta and FF Unit. Its forms are simpler and stiffer anyway, and we’ve already got the serif weight and shape figured out on I, i and j. The slab is closer to what you and I had dicussed in the past, but my grand plan (and the underlying reason why I think Meta Serif should be an Antiqua) is to draw Unit Serif as well, and let that one be a real Egyptian.

Besides the contrast, I haven’t settled on a shape for the ball terminals yet – see what you think of the various options. That may not be a bad thing, though, because I do think they look good together, and a real Antiqua would probably have a longer shelf life. I tried to keep as many of the salient features intact as I could, but it’s a definite departure from Meta. I also widened the overall proportion a bit, so the rounds fit in better with the visually wider seriffed characters. I added quite a bit of contrast (and should probably tone it back down, at least in the Normal) and the serifs are bracketed.

Ff meta ot bold