The shape of letters 字形

Personal exercise developed from an idea of Gerrit Noordzij: Continue reading →

This entry is a complement to Painting like writing in which I compared the method of Chinese literati painting with the construction principles of a script. Here I compare the music of J. S. Bach with a script (defined as a system of stroke–shapes). Continue reading →

The inscription on the Pantheon in Rome displays formal capitals around the first century. Words in ancient Rome are often abbreviated and not separated by a space.
The word as we know it today, was not born yet. Continue reading →

Another graph to illustrate some of the underlying ideas of this blog. This one shows that handwriting, reading and typography influence Continue reading →

‘Just like one who wants to learn to write, if he would master this skill he must practice much and often no matter how difficult Continue reading →

David R. Olson is University Professor Emeritus of cognitive sciences at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto). His book The World on Paper is an essential read for anyone interested in literacy. Continue reading →

Letters not only make visual sense. Letters make handwriting sense. Visual sense is a consequence, an effect of the rational, logical and systematic use of tools, materials and methods. The particulars, though, are embodied and can’t be explained with words, they need to be experienced. Continue reading →

Bernardino Cataneo was a writing master at the University of Siena around 1544-1560. The only known surviving exemplars of his writing are the pages in this copybook, dated 4 February 1545. Continue reading →