Every graphic designer tries to decide which font to use in advance, especially when editing text. Sometimes, however, there are changes depending on the subject matter or style desired. They prefer to take a step back and look at the screen as a whole.
In such cases, it is important that all the letters work well together. For this reason, all letters from A to Z, including numbers and symbols, are examined together in the name of the newly acquired typeface.
So much so that over time a form has been developed for this situation. This is called a “pangram”. A pangram is a sentence, meaningful or meaningless, containing all the letters of the alphabet.
The most popular pangram sentence in English is “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. As you can see, every letter of the alphabet is in the sentence. If you are curious, have a look. It’s like a mini-game.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Now let’s go back a little further in time and think about the writing on the scrolls. Of course, everything was done individually and by hand. So each scribe or monk had to be meticulous. Also, each letter had to be written in a similar way to the previous one. We have not even mentioned the drawings and designs on the margins of the pages. If we think about it, we can say that these people were actually the first graphic designers.
Language and, of course, the alphabet have inevitably changed from one country to another since the beginning of mankind. At that time, some letters began to take shape from the form of the language used and the style of writing.
You have all experienced cursive writing. Some people find it very difficult. It is fluent and fast, but not always legible. Think about how different it is in different languages. If you are curious, you can research how complex Russian handwriting is. Some have a structure similar to a doctor’s prescription.
Of course, some letters have been altered. After all, an order had to be created to ensure the flexibility of the hand and possibly to achieve a more ergonomic structure.
Some of you may have noticed that the combination of certain letters looks a little different from other letters. They form a structure as if they were glued together. This is called a “ligature”.
The most common examples of ligatures are combinations such as “fi”, “fl”, “ff”, “st”, “ae” or “oe” There are also ligatures formed by putting three letters next to each other, such as “ffi”, “ffl”, “fft”.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Would you be surprised if I told you that there is a ligature that we all use without realising it? The word “et”, which is a conjunction meaning “and” in Latin, is an example of a ligature. However, there is a rarer feature of this word that has become a symbol over time.
Probably because people write fast and use it often, this word has become the “&” sign, which we also call the “ampersand”. In the past, when the alphabet was taught in schools, this sign was also taught as the last letter. When saying the alphabet, you would say “x, y, z, and per se and” for that letter, and over time it became the ampersand. Drawing this sign gives me the same pleasure as drawing the treble clef (which is not an example of a ligature).
Photo by Haberdoedas on Unsplash
Revolution begins with language. Language is one of the most important elements in the construction of a culture. Such values, whether in analogue or digital form, are actually our interactions with the reflections of cultural history. Forms that were once in people’s minds, like ideas, have been adapted to change and new styles. Giving our writings and designs an aesthetic appearance with tons of fonts is similar to the stress that the designers of that time experienced in the modern era.
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