I've realised that out of all of the type styles that I've looked at, I haven't actually tried out Blackletter. It's strange because I really admire that style although I tend to stray away from it because it looked quite difficult to do (and none of the quotes I had done previously had that kind of "voice").
Since I've chosen a gothic, Victorian quote, I am now able to carry out some brief research and gather inspirational Blackletter and gothic typography. I shall also have a look again at general calligraphy to see if there are ways to combine the two. Once again I want to have a look at historical pieces as well as contemporary ones.
Inspirational Pieces
I waited a little bit until I have done as much inspiration-gathering as possible before picking out the ones that I think would be best in terms of brief analysis for this little 'project'. I have briefly looked at Blackletter before [here] and was tempted to just fill that post out a little bit but as it was so long ago, it would take me ages to scroll through the pages. I've also done some research right at the beginning of this project [here] on calligraphy tutorials from YouTube but once again that was a very long time ago.
I have a rough idea of what I'm looking for and what kind of typeface I was going to do so this process was done very quickly and I picked a few designs that I find most inspirational as well as useful for this project.
This typeface, Victorian Swash, was exactly what I was looking for. It had that tall structure that mirrored Victorian architecture and it's high ceilings, and the small serifs only emphasise the elongated structure. This is because they are so small that there is more of a focus on the stems of the characters.
There is quite a contrast between uppercase and lowercase, as the uppercase forms seem to be twice the height of lowercase. Usually the cap-height is quite close to the x-height but here it seems to want to get far away from it as possible. The "halfway" point of the uppercase aligns with the top of the lowercase, which makes the character bottom-heavy because the rest of it's form is quite short. Nevertheless, it still retains that tall structure.
The only difference between this and other gothic typefaces (such as Blackletter) that I have looked at is that it's relatively smooth. It has soft curves and 'blotted' serifs instead of hairline, strict serifs, and there isn't much of a contrast between thick and thin strokes. This makes the typeface appear less gothic because it's moved away from the strict confines of uppercase serifs (that always reminds me of the type on gravestones for some reason).
In terms of decoration, the flourishes and ligatures aren't elaborate so that the main focus is on the type and therefore words than "pretty extras". This heavily contrasts with the traditional Victorian typefaces that I have previously researched for my Moby Dick which shows the development of type and it's shift in focus from illustration to typography.
Conclusion:
I really like the tall structure of the type which is emphasised by the small width as well as the subtle ligatures, and would like to do something similar for my design. I would like to do something quite gothic with some elaborate design but I don't want to make it too decorative as the illustration itself is quite detailed.
What really attracts me in Blackletter type is the high contrast between the thick and thin strokes. It does make it hard-to-read at a distance when it's very small, but it is aesthetically pleasing. It reminds me of the gothic era and I keep thinking back to my trip to Germany where they used this font quite frequently (especially in Bavaria).
Even though Blackletter is used quite a lot in illuminated manuscripts, I also think of gloomy poetry and fairy tales when I see it. This could also be because of the connection it has to Germany because I then think back to the Brothers Grimm. Some of the houses in Germany had large illustrations on their walls of certain fairytales, so this could be another reason why I think of fairytales and dark, hidden secrets.
This typeface has the appearance of spiked gates due to the sharp corners of the lines, particularly at the top of the character. The extra crossbars on, for example, M, only emphasises the connotations of gates because it appears like prison bars. The characters generally do have soft curves but then they end in such a sharp manner that this 'soft' appearance is diminished. This is emphasised by the straight parallel lines.
I wasn't certain if this strict structure and 'spiked' appearance was adopted by all Blackletter typefaces so when I was visiting a Type exhibition in St. Martins I had a close look at illuminated manuscripts. I found a really good example of Blackletter there:
This Blackletter typeface wasn't nearly as strict nor straight than the one shown previously, but there is definitely a trend in using elaborate uppercase letters. The lowercases perhaps straighter than the uppercase, but the decoration is kept at a minimum. In fact the lowercase looks more like uncial typography used by Greek scribes than Blackletter.
Out of curiosity I looked at the lowercase version of the typography shown above.
The lowercase is definitely less elaborate but it still retains that extremely sharp points and hairline, well, lines. The 'serifs' are quite hairline as well which emphasises the sharpness to it.
Conclusion:
Due to Blackletter type being relatively hard to read I think that it's not ideal to use for the whole of my quote, but I could use certain aspects of it like the hairline extra lines on the inside of the character. I quite like the high contrast between thick and thin curves and it's strict form which brings connotations of spiked gates.
This piece highly contrasts with the ones I've looked at before because I wanted to pick out a least one calligraphic font for inspiration to provide some sort of variance when it comes to doing my sketches. Another reason for this in particular was because calligraphy makes things seem more personal and upperclass because it's quite elegant, and I have ideas of entwining the flourishes with the feathers of my illustration.
The reason it would look personal is because if I emphasised the fact that it was hand-done by including my little 'mistakes' instead of erasing them in Photoshop, it would look as if Edgar Allan Poe himself wrote it out or is in the process of writing out his poem. I noticed that when I watched "The Raven" (the 2012 film that is based on Edgar Allan Poe) I noticed that the hand-writing is quite elegant and slanted.
There is elegance to this typeface because on the smooth curves and the fact that the tails and ears flow really well and entwines with the main body of the character. This mirrors the typefaces used in wedding invitations [example 1, 2, 3] and so there is a hint of romantic connotations behind it. This would be useful in my design because I could reflect the long-lost love, Lenore.
Conclusion:
I do have a soft spot for calligraphy and would love to try it out with my next design, but perhaps make the lines slightly thicker. It would mirror the delicate lines within the illustration as well as portray those romantic connotations that is hidden within the poem.
However I worry that because it's so delicate that the lettering would disappear behind the feathers and that the viewer wouldn't notice it. I shall try it out anyway so that my designs wouldn't become redundant.
When Sean de Burca visited our uni his blackletter type for Wadsworth and Browne really caught my eye as it retains that 'traditional' appearance of it but he had added in some swashes to soften the appearance and make it look elegant.
His watercolour technique that he had applied to the design also softens the appearance, and looks as if it had been inked by hand (despite it actually being done on computer). I quite like the way he hasn't done really pointy 'ends' to his type, and think I shall use a similar technique if I choose to use blackletter for my piece.
Conclusion:
Although this is blackletter type it doesn't look quite as sinister nor gothic as the ones I had looked at previously, and I quite liked the way he does his swashes and 'twirls'. I might try and add some to my letters to see what happens, as it really does make it appear more elegant.
image source: https://www.p22.com/family-Victorian
This typeface, Victorian Swash, was exactly what I was looking for. It had that tall structure that mirrored Victorian architecture and it's high ceilings, and the small serifs only emphasise the elongated structure. This is because they are so small that there is more of a focus on the stems of the characters.
There is quite a contrast between uppercase and lowercase, as the uppercase forms seem to be twice the height of lowercase. Usually the cap-height is quite close to the x-height but here it seems to want to get far away from it as possible. The "halfway" point of the uppercase aligns with the top of the lowercase, which makes the character bottom-heavy because the rest of it's form is quite short. Nevertheless, it still retains that tall structure.
The only difference between this and other gothic typefaces (such as Blackletter) that I have looked at is that it's relatively smooth. It has soft curves and 'blotted' serifs instead of hairline, strict serifs, and there isn't much of a contrast between thick and thin strokes. This makes the typeface appear less gothic because it's moved away from the strict confines of uppercase serifs (that always reminds me of the type on gravestones for some reason).
In terms of decoration, the flourishes and ligatures aren't elaborate so that the main focus is on the type and therefore words than "pretty extras". This heavily contrasts with the traditional Victorian typefaces that I have previously researched for my Moby Dick which shows the development of type and it's shift in focus from illustration to typography.
Conclusion:
I really like the tall structure of the type which is emphasised by the small width as well as the subtle ligatures, and would like to do something similar for my design. I would like to do something quite gothic with some elaborate design but I don't want to make it too decorative as the illustration itself is quite detailed.
What really attracts me in Blackletter type is the high contrast between the thick and thin strokes. It does make it hard-to-read at a distance when it's very small, but it is aesthetically pleasing. It reminds me of the gothic era and I keep thinking back to my trip to Germany where they used this font quite frequently (especially in Bavaria).
Even though Blackletter is used quite a lot in illuminated manuscripts, I also think of gloomy poetry and fairy tales when I see it. This could also be because of the connection it has to Germany because I then think back to the Brothers Grimm. Some of the houses in Germany had large illustrations on their walls of certain fairytales, so this could be another reason why I think of fairytales and dark, hidden secrets.
This typeface has the appearance of spiked gates due to the sharp corners of the lines, particularly at the top of the character. The extra crossbars on, for example, M, only emphasises the connotations of gates because it appears like prison bars. The characters generally do have soft curves but then they end in such a sharp manner that this 'soft' appearance is diminished. This is emphasised by the straight parallel lines.
I wasn't certain if this strict structure and 'spiked' appearance was adopted by all Blackletter typefaces so when I was visiting a Type exhibition in St. Martins I had a close look at illuminated manuscripts. I found a really good example of Blackletter there:
This Blackletter typeface wasn't nearly as strict nor straight than the one shown previously, but there is definitely a trend in using elaborate uppercase letters. The lowercases perhaps straighter than the uppercase, but the decoration is kept at a minimum. In fact the lowercase looks more like uncial typography used by Greek scribes than Blackletter.
Out of curiosity I looked at the lowercase version of the typography shown above.
The lowercase is definitely less elaborate but it still retains that extremely sharp points and hairline, well, lines. The 'serifs' are quite hairline as well which emphasises the sharpness to it.
Conclusion:
Due to Blackletter type being relatively hard to read I think that it's not ideal to use for the whole of my quote, but I could use certain aspects of it like the hairline extra lines on the inside of the character. I quite like the high contrast between thick and thin curves and it's strict form which brings connotations of spiked gates.
This piece highly contrasts with the ones I've looked at before because I wanted to pick out a least one calligraphic font for inspiration to provide some sort of variance when it comes to doing my sketches. Another reason for this in particular was because calligraphy makes things seem more personal and upperclass because it's quite elegant, and I have ideas of entwining the flourishes with the feathers of my illustration.
The reason it would look personal is because if I emphasised the fact that it was hand-done by including my little 'mistakes' instead of erasing them in Photoshop, it would look as if Edgar Allan Poe himself wrote it out or is in the process of writing out his poem. I noticed that when I watched "The Raven" (the 2012 film that is based on Edgar Allan Poe) I noticed that the hand-writing is quite elegant and slanted.
There is elegance to this typeface because on the smooth curves and the fact that the tails and ears flow really well and entwines with the main body of the character. This mirrors the typefaces used in wedding invitations [example 1, 2, 3] and so there is a hint of romantic connotations behind it. This would be useful in my design because I could reflect the long-lost love, Lenore.
Conclusion:
I do have a soft spot for calligraphy and would love to try it out with my next design, but perhaps make the lines slightly thicker. It would mirror the delicate lines within the illustration as well as portray those romantic connotations that is hidden within the poem.
However I worry that because it's so delicate that the lettering would disappear behind the feathers and that the viewer wouldn't notice it. I shall try it out anyway so that my designs wouldn't become redundant.
image source: https://www.facebook.com/seandbdesign
When Sean de Burca visited our uni his blackletter type for Wadsworth and Browne really caught my eye as it retains that 'traditional' appearance of it but he had added in some swashes to soften the appearance and make it look elegant.
His watercolour technique that he had applied to the design also softens the appearance, and looks as if it had been inked by hand (despite it actually being done on computer). I quite like the way he hasn't done really pointy 'ends' to his type, and think I shall use a similar technique if I choose to use blackletter for my piece.
Conclusion:
Although this is blackletter type it doesn't look quite as sinister nor gothic as the ones I had looked at previously, and I quite liked the way he does his swashes and 'twirls'. I might try and add some to my letters to see what happens, as it really does make it appear more elegant.
Reflective Thinking - Summary
Even though I do want to do Blackletter I realised that there's a bit of a problem in terms of legibility. I can't really tell the letters apart, even on images where they just list the alphabet, so I've changed my mind and I think I shall rely more on calligraphy but just add aspects of Blackletter to it.
Also, Blackletter might be too decorative for my illustration as there's quite a lot of detail in the feathers and I don't want the overall image to be too overpowering and elaborate. If I am doing a detailed illustration, then I want to do some 'simple' typography to create a nice balance.
What connects all of the typefaces that I have looked at is that there is some variation of thick and thin strokes, so I might adapt this in my hand-lettering. I haven't been able to experiment much with serifs so I would like to use them for my design... Although it would all depends on how it looks and if it works with the illustration.
My next step is to start sketching out some ideas for the type to get a general feel for the quote before sorting out the kerning and composition.
What connects all of the typefaces that I have looked at is that there is some variation of thick and thin strokes, so I might adapt this in my hand-lettering. I haven't been able to experiment much with serifs so I would like to use them for my design... Although it would all depends on how it looks and if it works with the illustration.
My next step is to start sketching out some ideas for the type to get a general feel for the quote before sorting out the kerning and composition.
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