In the early days of PostScript fonts, I designed a
font of leaves called XLeefMeAlone. This past year I
realized that because two fontographers, both the program
of that name and I, had advanced in the 15 years since
the creation of XLeefMeAlone, a better leave typeface was
possible. The result was two sets of new leaf fonts:
MapleOaks and MoreLeaves. MapleOaks contains almost 100
images of maple, oak, and sycamore leaves, and MoreLeaves
has almost 100 images of leaves of various other
species.
Leaves are beautiful little works of art with an
endless variety of shapes. No two leaves are the same,
and I found it very difficult to decide what leaves to
include and which to ignore. I have tried to give a good
representation of the many shapes that I found around me,
and a few friends and family members helped by giving me
some leaves that I did not have. I cannot identify all of
the leaves tha I have included, (there are four or five
oaks in the black oak group, for example, that are to me
indistinguishable, and that is not even considering the
fact that they can hybridize), but I did not use
identification as a criteria for inclusion.
Because one use of leaves is as a border, I have take
the original MapleOaks typeface and created three
additional typefaces by rotating it at 90-degree
increments. Hence, you can have the same leaf shape
pointing up to the right, up to the left, down to the
right, and down to the left. I hope some people find this
feature useful.
released January 2006
