Handstyle or hand style is a term in

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

culture denoting the unique

handwriting Handwriting is the writing done with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil, in the hand. Handwriting includes both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface A typeface (or font family) is ...

signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...

tag (graffiti) Tags are one of the primary forms of graffiti, along with throw-ups and pieces. The act of writing a tag is known as tagging. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti, originating in New York City in the 1960s and 70s with artists such as TA ...

of an artist, also known as a writer. The same way that in

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...

there are different typefaces or fonts, in

there are different handstyles. Similarly to the way a typographer would focus on

typefaces A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands o ...

, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing (

leading In typography, leading ( ) is the space between adjacent lines of type; the exact definition varies. In hand typesetting, leading is the thin strips of lead (or aluminium) that were inserted between lines of type in the composing stick to incre ...

), and

letter-spacing Examples of headline letter spacing In typography, letter spacing, character spacing or tracking is an optically consistent adjustment to the space between letters to change the visual density of a line or block of text. Letter spacing is distin ...

(tracking), a writer would focus on line lengths, line direction, line curvature, letter size and letter balance. The concept of having unique and expressive handstyles developed slowly. When graffiti first started in the '70s, a tag's style was the writer's personal handwriting. In the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and Philadelphia in the mid '70s, different writers and crews started stylizing and personalizing their tags. Over time, the concept of a handstyle emerged through the stylising of these tags. Today specific handstyles are associated to specific writers, crews,

gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

and even

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, such as the Philly Handstyle. Handstyles can be used as the basis for evaluation. Writers are usually perceived as having "good" or "bad" handstyles by those in the graffiti community. Good handstyle is usually associated with style, consistency(uniformity), flow, and balance while bad handsyles are associated with sloppy letters, bad form and lack of style.

Regional handstyles

Handstyles are usually unique to a writer or a crew but they can also be regional or shared between several writers. For example, in the '70s and '80s, the cities of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

had distinct handstyles. Other regional handstyles include

Pichação Pichação, sometimes misspelled as pixação (), is the name given to Brazilian graffiti. It consists of tagging done in a distinctive, cryptic style, mainly on walls and vacant buildings. Many ''pichadores'' (''pichação'' painters) compete to ...

, Cholo, and bus flow handstyles. In Philadelphia, the Philly Handstyle is still very prominent. Almost all local handstyles are somewhat influenced by the Philly Handstyle. What makes this handstyle unique is that the letters are stretched out vertically and the tag is usually painted in very few if not one line. This usually gives a sharp and energetic aesthetic almost looking like cursive letters. Philly letters are usually difficult to read for those outside the graffiti community due to this abstraction and stylisation of the letters.

is a handstyle developed in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

. This handstyle is distinctively cryptic and has a dark aesthetic. The letters are usually painted vertically, while free climbing or rappeling off buildings. The result of this is long horizontal hieroglyphic/cryptic tags. In

all writers are influenced by

even if they do not use this style and it can be seen all around the major cities of Brazil. This style has also spread to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, specifically Germany where the Berlin Kidz, have added their own style to it. Cholo Handstyle descended from

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

writing in

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

neighborhoods in the '60s and '70s, and even hand-painted gang lettering in the '40s, is a prominent handstyle in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The handstyle can be described as "elegant, single-line scripts." The style has been popularized by writers such as Chaz Bjorquez, CRYPTIK, DEFER, SLEEPS, PRIME. The L.A. handstyle has reached global significance, especially within the art world through galleries, exhibitions, and collections. Busflow originated in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. Writers would take the

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

and try to tag in one continuous flow along with the movements of the ride, hence the name. Characteristics of Busflow include a rounded typography, connected (often through one-line) and generally equal-sized letters, and often loops in letters like K, M, or R. ORFN helped to popularize the style.

Gallery

File:Pixacao saopaulo brasil 002.jpg, Example of Pichação from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. File:Urban graffiti Art São Paulo Brazil Pixo.jpg, Another Example of Pichação from São Paulo, Brazil in 2013. File:Philadelphia Graffiti.jpg, Example of Philly handstyle from 2014. File:San Franisco Busflow.jpg, Example of bus flow from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 2021.

References

Graffiti and unauthorised signage {{graffiti-stub