A history of alphabets from around the world
|
A history of alphabets from around the world | |
|
The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering by Frederic W. Goudy Chapter 9: The Qualities of Lettering, page 3 There may be times when the decorative quality of a line of lettering is of greater value than easy legibility, but this fact should not be made an excuse to deform letters for the sake of expediency, nor to produce any unusual shape without exceptional artistic warrant. Letters are not to be measured, nor is there any canon of proportion to set up. Broadly speaking, they must be either Italian [roman] or Gothic. It does not matter whether they are based on the circle or on the square - whether "old style" or "modern," the essentials are the same; the chief difference lies in the matter of proportion. One word, however, on the use of Gothic, today little used as a text letter: for lines in which the decorative quality is of greater importance than easy legibility, this style presents an opportunity for compactness and color impossible in the roman forms. Pleasing legibility is the foremost consideration. One offense to avoid is extreme attenuation of any lines, as this involves constant alteration of the focus of the eyes, which, though slight in the reading of a few words or a line, is extremely wearing in the aggregate. Ruskin struck the right note when he advised the craftsman not to make lettering illegible when the only merit present is in its sense, by attempting beauty at the expense of use. He directs: "Write the Commandments on the church wall where they can be plainly seen, but do not put a dash and tail to every letter." Where the eye can rest is the place for decoration. The idea that a page is made beautiful only at the expense of legibility is a vagary of artists who lack knowledge of the art with which they meddle. In the first place, simplicity of form is necessary; this requires a study of the essential root forms, which are practically those of the lapidary capitals of two thousand years ago. Each of those characters had an individuality. By emphasizing this characteristic quality in such a way that nothing in it inclines us to confound any letter with its neighbor, we may get a new expression or quality of personality, which is as far as we may go, since those forms are now fixed. A craftsman possessing individuality will express himself in his work and endow it with character, with that personal singularity which is the quality that gives distinction to any work. There should be no attempt to make designs of individual letters, since design implies invention, and what already exists cannot be invented. Some alphabets are in themselves in the highest degree so decorative that there is danger in using the in except for a word or two, as the repetition of the elements contributing to their decorative quality is bound to be irritating. In the manuscript page every repetition of a character took on a subtle quality of difference; in print every repeated letter is in facsimile. The artist should, then, study his model until he has grasped the spirit of it, selecting characteristic forms and simplifying them for his use, to avoid any element of restlessness. Continue to page 4 |
The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering by Frederic W. Goudy Introduction What Letters Are Letters in General The Development of the Roman Capital Letters Before Printing The National Hands The Development of Gothic The Beginnings of Types The Qualities of Lettering Some Practical Considerations Notes on the Plates |