Classic Calligraphy & Formal Scripts

Classic Calligraphy: Overview

Classic calligraphy is based on historical letterforms dating from the 1400’s and earlier. Although the styles are many centuries old, they are timeless, and today’s designers often use them to convey a sense of elegance, refinement and tradition. This portfolio is an overview of projects I have done showing variations on gothic, italic script, Spencerian and Roman capitals. Classic calligraphy is created with the modern equivalent of a feather “quill.” Instead of a feather the writing tool is usually a metal penpoint placed in a holder. The pen can be either pointed or “edged.” The edged pen makes a chiseled stroke with pronounced thick and thin contrast. This stroke is often called “the ribbon effect” in which a line turns magically and three-dimensionally in space. The pointed pen is more delicate and the shape of the letters is determined by the pressure and release of the hand. If you are used to thinking in terms of fonts, “classic calligraphy” would be “Zapf Chancery” and pointed pen would be “Florentine Script.” The difference is that the calligraphy would look alive, and proprietary. If your logo is designed in custom calligraphy the answer to the question “what font is that?” is a quiet smile.