Notes from Letter Fountain

Here are some notes from the reading.

Lowercase letters did not exist in the Roman times, however their written work did resemble our lower case letters today. The alphabet can be classified according to their form (round, rectangular, diagonal, etc.) and construction (two-storied, open sides, wide, medium, and narrow). The world Hambergefonstiv is often used to test new typefaces because it contains all of the basic shapes in an alphabet. Visual corrections are needed for the protrusion of an oval and a rectangle and the distance between letters. Left-slanting axis and thick-thin contrast originate from the days of handwriting. One of the first letters designed is 'e' which defines curves, arches and bowls. The lowercase 'l' defines the thickness of the stem, but is not always used as a stem. The lower terminal of 'c' should not be larger than the maximum thickness of the curve of the letter. Letters 'c' and 'e' are often drawn slimmer because they have open sides. Counters for the letters 'd', 'p', 'b', and 'q' may be flat on one side when meeting the stem or have a complete curve. The letter 'n' is often the starting point for 'h', 'm', 'u', and sometimes 'r' (usually when the 'r' is san-serif). As a serif, the 'r' has special attention paid to it, so that it receives the same grey tone as the other letters. The uppercase letter 'N' consists of two stems and a diagonal line, this letter is often drawn inside a square. The counter of the 'N' differs in size, sometimes it is equal and other times the lower of the two is larger. The letter 'U' is equal in width as 'V'. The letter 'M' is a combination of the letter 'V' with a stem added onto both sides of it. Often times the left stem is thinner than the right and the stems are usually vertical but can be at a slight angle. The letters 'a', 's', and 'g' are unique and do not contain elements that can be directly copied, however it still fits in with the typeface. The 'g' can either have two-stories or one. The bowl of the 'a' can be teardrop shaped or appear almost rectangular. Futura has an usual 'a' that is more commonly used in italics and extra bold styles. Letter 'S' can be constructed by using two circles stacked on each other; the circles can sometimes differ in size and often lean toward the left or right. The upper and lowercase 'G' are constructed completely different and require special attention because of its complexity. The loop lowercase 'g' can be either open or closed. Letters with single stems such as 'l', 'i', 'j', 'f', and 't' are not as complicated as 'g'.