Lettering or Lettering design is an act or result of artfully drawing letters, instead of

writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

them simply. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vi ...

. Each letter is created with attention to detail and has a unique role within a

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

. Lettering is created as an image, with letters that are meant to be used in a unique configuration. Lettering words do not always translate into alphabets that can later be used in a

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

, since they are created with a specific word in mind.,

Formal characteristics

Lettering is composed of a few formal characteristics: simplicity, distinctiveness and proportion. Simplicity is defined as having the essential components of the letter; The structure of the letter is identifiable to its alphabet. Distinctiveness is defined as the different characteristics of the letter being marked more intentionally to accentuate the distinguishable features. Proportion is defined as preserving the essential forms of a letter in conjunction to one another when exaggerating and dwarfing.

Examples of application

Lettering includes that used for purposes of

blueprint A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842. The process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...

s and

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

, as well as decorative lettering such as sign painting and custom graphics. For instance; on

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

s, for a

letterhead A letterhead is the heading at the top of a sheet of letter paper (stationery). It consists of a name, address, logo or trademark, and sometimes a background pattern. Overview Many companies and individuals prefer to create a letterhead template ...

or business

wordmark A wordmark or word mark is a text-only statement of the name of a product, service, company, organization, or institution which is used for purposes of identification and branding. A wordmark can be an actual word (e.g., Apple), a made-up term ...

, lettering in stone, lettering for advertisements, tire lettering, fileteado,

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

, or on chalkboards. Lettering may be drawn, incised, applied using

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object. The holes allow the pigment to reach only some parts of the surface creatin ...

s, using a digital medium with a stylus, or a vector program. Lettering that was not created using digital tools is commonly referred to as hand-lettering. In the past, almost all decorative lettering other than that on paper was created as custom or hand-painted lettering. The use of fonts in place of lettering has increased due to new printing methods,

phototypesetting Phototypesetting is a method of Typesetting, setting type which uses photography to make columns of Sort (typesetting), type on a scroll of photographic paper. It has been made obsolete by the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publ ...

, and digital typesetting, which allow fonts to be printed at any desired size. More recently, there has been an influx of aspiring artists attempting hand-lettering with brush pens and digital mediums. Some popular styles are sans serif, serif, cursive/script, vintage,

blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter or black-letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule or Gothic type, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for ...

("gothic") calligraphy, graffiti, and creative lettering.

Notable artists

* Seb Lester * Phil Grimshaw * Pablo Ferro * Herb Lubalin * Louise Fili * Jessica Hische * Alan Peckoclick * Alex Trochut

Related artforms

Lettering can be confused with similar terms, such as

calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

. Calligraphy is known as a more rigid process, that requires learning the formal shapes of letters and often combining thick downstrokes with thin upstrokes. This style of writing is generally created with

dip pen A dip pen is a writing instrument used to apply ink to paper. It usually consists of a metal nib (pen), nib with a central slit that acts as a capillary action, capillary channel like those of fountain pen nibs, mounted in a handle or holder, ofte ...

s and inks. Some calligraphers and hand-letterers say that calligraphy created with brush pens becomes lettering or faux-calligraphy,, but others believe that the approach used to create the letters is more important than the tools used to do so., Typography is the use of type in a repeating system, where each instance of the same letter looks the same. Part of the reason why these misconceptions are common is that some font shops categorize their fonts as "hand-lettered", "illustrated" or "calligraphy". Said fonts can begin with a hand-lettered alphabet that is then digitized and turned into a repeatable system. This identifies them as typography, instead of lettering. ''Hand Lettering for Beginners'' defines the three terms as follows: Lettering is the art of drawing letters, calligraphy is the art of writing letters and is related to the idea of

penmanship Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. Today, this is most commonly done with a pen, or pencil, but throughout history has included many different writing implement, implements. The various generic a ...

, and

is a repeated system of letters or the art of arranging type.

References

External links