"A Mano" Handwritten...what a useful little book

A few quotes from said book....

"Going directly from hand to paper (or wood, stone, textile) is the most effective way of achieving unfettered communication" (p6)

"Typesetting is official; handlettering is informal. Typesetting is mechanical; handlettering is expressive" (p7)

(handlettering in design can be done by) "fine typographers who use this form as a respite from the rigours of more conventional design, others are novices, who do not possess the skill level to do anything more finished" (p9)

"Scrawl is recognised as an acceptable typographic form when a leading design organisation, in this case D&AD (see Marion Deuchars post), uses it in its annual report. These scrawls are both demonstrative & subdued to contrast with the slick design work" (p13)

"in the current design milieu, most handwork is not as much about polemics as it is about a formalist response to digital perfection. With so many templates on the market designed to insure a pedestrian standard of competant design, the need to break free from the grid has driven some to seek sublime imperfection. As an alternative to mediocrity, flawed artistry is better than conformist predictability."

A few people to check out....

William Addison Dwiggins
Paul Rand
Alex Steinweiss
Alvin Lustig
Ralph Steadman (I love him)
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec
Jules Chiret & Alphonse Mucha

A few words I didn't know...(I know, the sad state of British Education. I'm one of the good ones, too.)

Polemic- A controversial discussion/ verbal or written attack (politics)

Serendipity- Unexpected discoveries by accident (also serendipitous, and serendipitously)

Notes

Early on this book the history of handwritten letterforms in design is briefly described, splitting its use into three main manifestations:
1. The presence of the artist's hand, intergrating art, design and message into seamless composition- quoting the "great advertising posters of the late-nineteenth century"
2. The deliberate rejection of official type to convey emotion and expression in often dispassionate media; generally political manifestos.
3. Economy, citing examples of 70s psychadelic posters and posters of protest.

It moves on to describe how modern use of hand rendered letters inject individuality and identity. (see quote above)

Dets

Heller, Stephen & Illic, Mirko, 2006, Handwritten, expressive lettering in the digital age Thames & Hudson, London