G can take many forms in both upper and lowercase.

Degular has this as an alternate, and can be read just as easily, but it definitely evokes a different feeling. Futura and many other geometric sans opt for this form.

Oddly, G’s salient feature, the horizontal, turns out to not be necessary in some humanist designs.

Lowercase g is just a little o that hangs from the x-height, then an s that grows out like a weird tail and turns into an 8. And it has an ear. I’m so high rn.

Perhaps due to g’s wild nature, students of type design often take the opportunity to throw out every rule in the book and make the weirdest fucking gs you’ve ever seen.

That’s why I challenge you to make really boring gs. It’s much harder than making an expressive g, but not so hard when you can look to your o and s for some cues and inspiration.

I often opt for a flat ear, as a sort of nod to calligraphy, but what’s way more important is the size of the three areas of negative space.

And if you crave ✨supreme mundanity✨, the deceptively titled “single storey g” is the answer — but maybe not in a high-contrast serif. That wouldn’t be boring enough. ✌