Letters
CALLIGRAPHY, MODERN CALLIGRAPHY, HAND-LETTERING, TYPOGRAPHY… SHEESH, THE CREATIVE WORLD IS FULL OF TERMS LIKE THIS THAT WE USE AND MISUSE TO DESCRIBE OUR VARIOUS METHODS OF VISUALLY REPRESENTING WORDS. NOWADAYS, THESE LINES ARE BEGINNING TO BLUR, BETWEEN THE HANDMADE AND DIGITAL, AND BETWEEN THESE DIFFERENT WAYS OF SHOWCASING WORDS AND PHRASES.
Let’s take a look at three of the main categories for how we create words: Type, Calligraphy and Lettering.
1. TYPE
noun, often attributive \ ˈtīp \ printed letters
The history of type as we know it goes back to the Gutenberg Press, invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the early 15th century. Before that time, many countries were using forms of woodblock printing to print both type and images, but it wasn’t nearly as efficient as moveable type, which was first used by Gutenberg in 1440. This was the beginning of standardized type, and therefore, the beginning of typefaces.
Fast forward a few hundred years and here we are with thousands of typefaces and fonts available to us for use on computers. While printing presses are still around, movable type only makes up a small portion of what we see day to day. All that to say, type is that standardized, every e looks the same as all the other e’s, way of communicating letters, words and phrases. We see it everywhere, and probably 90% of the type we read is on our phone or computer screen.
Each letter in a typeface was specifically designed to be the way it is, and foundries and type designers spend countless hours perfecting these letters to be the most readable and consistent they can be within the style they are creating. We tend to take these letterforms for granted, but it’s truly a feat of legibility that you can read that many instagram captions in a matter of minutes…
If you want to see some examples or read more about type design, check out some of these pretty rad type foundries and see what they have to offer!
https://www.typography.com/
https://www.emigre.com/
https://houseind.com/
https://www.linotype.com/
https://klim.co.nz/
2. CALLIGRAPHY
noun cal·lig·ra·phy \ -fē \ artistic, stylized, or elegant handwriting
Now to calligraphy. I have to say, I am not a calligrapher and I think that people who are are pretty amazing. Calligraphy goes beyond good handwriting and penmanship, and is truly a form of art. Calligraphy goes back centuries: think ancient chinese and middle eastern civilizations. It even goes back to the advent of paper itself (I guess people just always wanted their writing to look dang good).
Calligraphy has long been associated with fancy parties, weddings, generally wealthy classes of people, political documents, certificates, and old things (like the declaration of independence!). As of the past several years however, modern calligraphy has taken the stage and become a very trendy twist on the classic art. It’s a specifically modern set of characteristics, but still uses same method of writing as classic calligraphy. It is all based around the natural range of motion used by one’s hand to create humanistic, and many times flourished, letters.
While calligraphy comes in many styles, it is appropriate to say that the consistency in calligraphy is the difference between thick and thin lines. This difference in line weight gives calligraphy its very distinct readability and organic nature.
If you want to see some mastery in calligraphy, check out these guys:
https://www.jakeweidmann.com/
http://www.johnstevensdesign.com/
3. HAND-LETTERING
Now, hand-lettering is where we tend to find some blurred lines. Many times, calligraphy is mistakenly labeled as “hand lettering” but there is a huge distinguishing factor between the two: Hand lettering is the act of drawing each individual letter, whereas calligraphy is the act of writing them. Both require a distinct level of skill, but are very different practices.
Hand lettering is an art that you may never even have noticed is being used around you on a pretty consistent basis. Like type, it is ubiquitous, especially in a capitalist society where brands, marketing, and advertising rule so much of our air space. The bulk of hand lettering is used create unique logotypes or campaigns for specific brands. It is a skill that is really useful for creating extremely unique experiences with letters.
Here are some examples of logos that were hand lettered:
Coca Cola
Walgreens
Kleenex
Kellogs
Cadbury
Mrs Fields
Unilever
Oh, and here are some of my favorite letterers:
http://www.louisefili.com/
ttp://www.christophercraig.co/
http://www.beccaclason.com/
https://www.adamvicarel.com/
http://www.tanamachistudio.com/
http://www.gemmaobrien.com/
WHY DOES IT MATTER
Knowing the differences between these three things is important for calligraphers, illustrators and designers because it is a huge part of educating clients and consumers on what we do! The more we understand each other and our skill sets, the more we value those skills and can teach people about the time, love and effort that goes into each one.
Think about it, the typefaces that we are constantly reading on our screens were designed by talented type designers, the calligraphy we model our type and lettering on was mastered by calligraphers, and the logos we see around us were drawn by letterform-understanding graphic designers and illustrators. All of these skills require hard work and practice, and as we learn and train, we can appreciate and recognize more and more the skills of those around us.