Online Publication : Handwriting

Handwriting is no longer seen as crucial as it was 20 years ago. Teaching ‘good’ penmanship has declined as the technological age brings with it the end of handwriting as a necessity but rather as calligraphy which can be seen as an art or craft. If samples of handwriting are compared to those of 20 years ago there is a noticeable difference; today the printed type form (as oppose to cursive) is vastly more common as too is the overuse of capital letters. The handwritten form will be a thing of the past, as computers and word processing technology can produce print in a fast, easy and highly accessible way. Perhaps the new typography design of our age will focus on the art and experimental nature of the hand written form. Handwriting expresses tone, personality and live speech in a way that cannot beduplicated by typefaces. Like speech the handwritten letter is affected by who is communicating as well as what is being communicated, and the time and space surrounding those letters. Handwriting is speech taking a visual form with all the idiosyncrasies of spoken communication.

The online publication could delve intoa brief history of handwriting but more so talk about its effect on today’s digital aged society. Explore how expression and personality are conveyed through handwriting. Perhaps the publication could contain chapters that express various handwriting and art created through typography. Each student could produce either an artwork with handwritten typography, a type design or their understanding or approach to handwritten type. Through this we can explore the concept of designers who are pioneers break tradition, and if today’s tradition is the printed form then perhaps handwritten type design will be the new exploration to convey the type style of our time; which is individualexpression. These are some examples of handwritting and typography.

An example of the grid system could contain index samples of handwriting, full page handwriting experiments, half page hanwritting artwork, etc. Each artwork will be be supported with a paragraph explaining concept and direction. The beginning of the publication could have a brief explanation of the direction of the publication.