The World According to Handwriting

Introduction

Contents

THE GOOD OLD DAYS!e way we were

!e king’s new robes

As the world turns

THE IMAGINARY LIGHT AT THE END

The Great Depression

Moving forward (too fast?)

Change

THE COMEBACK KID

Back in black

!e new world

Flying high at age 5000

1-2

3-4

5-6

7-8

9-10

11-12

13-14

15-16

17-18

THE GOOD OLD DAYS

I am very delighted to come in and voice the trials and tribulations that I have endured, the impact of my contributions to humanity and what the future holds.

I was pivotal to human civilisation since the decline of stone carvings, when humans roamed the trees looking for berries in the dawn and hunted in the day. I held the monopoly of language in its permanentform, and for centuries embodied the brilliance above all human invention sincethe discovery of !re. "rough my thoughts, ideas and information transcended the con!nes of a cave and reached generationsand places far beyond what was possiblein the oral tradition. "is notion, mypedestal if you will, was still toweringin the consciousness of humanity upuntil very recently.

Why are you here and why is yourstory important?

Many human inventions have comeand gone, yet you’re still here. What gave you the enduring quality that presided with you in the glory days?

1

THE WAY WE WERE

Left: 1900s inspired handwriting.

"ere was a sense of unity you see, especiallyin professional institutions where their useof me was uniform or at least striving to be in those days. To properly use myself as a tool to communicate to the newly interconnected world was almost a symbol of culture and prestige - very much the epitome of the19th century.

Well in what I like to call my heyday, when my form and !gure was admired by millions through the #ourishing of the printing press, people had a #are for the way they wrote. "erewas this notion that one needed to write properly, elegantly, clearly and with dignity.

Penmanship was a very important aspectof documentation, since there were no other available technologies. It was therefore taught out of necessity, with schools and workplaces spending vast amounts of time ensuring that eachof their pupils or employees had neat and legible handwriting in the style that was popular at the time. I actually think it’s a pity that such emphasis on penmanship has fallen out of favour. Really, it’s the decline of an artform.

Can you speak about Penmanship before the postmodern era?

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HANDWRITING 2

THE GOOD OLD DAYS

"ere were many forms of writing at the time but the one that struck me as the most subtle and elegant was undoubtedly the Spencerian handwriting of mid 19th century. What a beauty she was - it mirrored the beauty of Copperplate, yet retained the edgy tones ofthe time. It was truly a sight to behold. And why not? "e creator Platt Rogers Spencer wanted a version of me that was versatile, practical and could be adapted to a varietyof situations, like a chameleon in a rain forest.

What sort of forms did you manifest themost in the 19th century, and which were you mostimpressed with?

3

THE KING’S NEW ROBES

A grid? Ah yes the grid. My place on a piece of paper was very much the fascination of the artisans and scholars of the like before the 20th century. People all over the world realized that the way they placed me wasable to sway meaning and the contentsof what was communicated well beforethe computer revolution.

It was de!nitely harder back then toconform to a grid. Typewriter and script writing had many more parameters. Culture and life in the period was not really inclined to experiment with scale, kerning and typographiccombinations compared to the fostering of freeform art and typography that exist today. In a way I was caged in much simpler, uniform walls whereas now I feel I am standing nextto a clearance bin in a clothing store, notknowing how people will dress me up next.

Was it harder then or now to conform to a grid?


THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Above: 1900s inspired signage incorperating calligraphy.

5

AS THE WORLD TURNS

You maintained

in the 19th century.Did you notice then any hints ofwhat would happenin the 20th centuryat this time?

Yes I did, and to be honest I did see thatmy hegemony over the communication ofthe globe would diminish eventually. It wasa relatively sudden change, especially when you compare it to how old of a hag I am.But there were de!nite signs that humanity was moving in a di$erent direction. "e main problem was the very nature of handwriting - the artistic trade that was embodied into my being was no longer e%cient and fast enoughfor the world.

"e !rst sign came with the advent of industrialization in Europe. Among the magni!cent achievements by man, the train, the steam engine, the factories that glittered upon what were the ancient pastures of Europe,my neighbors became less and less important until some simply faded away into the merefootnotes of history books. Weaving, embroidery,painting, carpentry, were all replaced by the younger, more slender trades that automation brought to life. I suppose it !rst hit home with the invention of the typewriter. From there, the world - especially the sections that ruled the globe, business, governments, the military -began to adopt automated type and I was slowly but steady relegated to the sidelines.


THE IMAGINARY LIGHT AT THE END7

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Above: Interpretative progression of Bauhaus type.

It was kind of like being the scorned

wife in a horrible 1950s movie. There

and beautiful version of myself. It was

certainly very scary - I felt myself slowly

losing the people that had made me

come into being. It was heart breaking

feeling such a loss after almost two

thousand years of devout partnership

with humanity. There was a very dark

period of lonely envy. I found myself

comparing my own qualities with type

and the ways it superseded me as the

eminent form of recorded information

around the world.

What was your period of hiatus like


The world was moving and typefaces were just the natural progression.

“”THE IMAGINARY LIGHT AT THE END9

”

MOVING FORWARD (TOO FAST?)

After overcoming the self-consciousness,

yes. Type was heading in a direction that

saw a trend to increased x-heights, and

reduced character and line spacing, all

elements which change word and

paragraph shapes.

You have to remember

I have been around

for thousands of years

so such huge shifts in

society in such a small

space of a few decades

was worrying to me.

I saw that humanity

was moving faster

than ever before with

technologies from fast

food production to stock

exchanges, the world

was moving and

typefaces were just

the natural progression

to go. It unfortunately

meant I was obsolete.

Did you have any worriesfor this rapid progression from handwriting to digital type?


THE IMAGINARY LIGHT AT THE END

The Bauhaus m

ovement w

as a

that m

y positio

n in th

e world

was n

o

longer v

ital.

While

I was b

itter a

bout it,

credit

needs to b

e given w

hen its d

ue.

that r

eally s

parked th

e modern

age

While

it’s m

ost fam

ous for o

bviously

great f

orm vers

us functio

n phenom

enon

the tr

ansition o

f machin

e cre

ated te

xt

and those p

roduced b

y handwrit

ing.

It had a

gre

at tale

nt of e

mbra

cing a

standard

ised econom

y and d

irect

correspondence to

the fu

nctions

of word

s on th

e page. I

t was tr

uly

an era

whose le

gacy will

live o

n

for c

enturie

s.

Talk to me about Bauhaus.

11

The Bauhaus m

ovement w

as a

that m

y positio

n in th

e world

was n

o

longer v

ital.

While

I was b

itter a

bout it,

credit

needs to b

e given w

hen its d

ue.

that r

eally s

parked th

e modern

age

While

it’s m

ost fam

ous for o

bviously

great f

orm vers

us functio

n phenom

enon

the tr

ansition o

f machin

e cre

ated te

xt

and those p

roduced b

y handwrit

ing.

It had a

gre

at tale

nt of e

mbra

cing a

standard

ised econom

y and d

irect

correspondence to

the fu

nctions

of word

s on th

e page. I

t was tr

uly

an era

whose le

gacy will

live o

n

for c

enturie

s.

The advent o

f sla

ng is a

nother

sympto

m o

f a g

rowin

g inte

rnet c

ulture

that i

s leakin

g into

all a

spects o

f our d

aily

slang h

ad alw

ays existe

d in c

olloquia

l

conversatio

n but i

n today’s c

ulture

it is s

eeping in

to o

ur main

stream

correspondence. W

hat’s th

is ‘LO

L’

anyway? It lo

oks so a

brupt a

nd is

correspondence d

uring th

e old

days.

Let me p

ut it t

his way -

would y

ou rath

er

receive a

length

y handwrit

ten lo

ve lette

r

with s

crawlin

g and e

motiv

e handwrit

ing,

or an a

brupt t

ext m

essage o

r em

ail ask

ing

if you w

ere c

omin

g over l

ater t

hat nig

ht?

That change to

short,

coars

e use o

f

language is

really

a s

tark

contra

st to

the e

loquence th

at once d

omin

ated

acceptable

com

munic

ations,

especially

in in

stances s

uch as a

young courts

hip. O

h, how g

race h

as

falle

n from

that o

nce beautif

ul art!

Talk to me about Bauhaus.

How do you think language has

changed as a result from the move

away from handwriting?


THE COMEBACK KID13

BACK IN BLACK

Yes I would say there is de!nitely a small resurgence of hand-made and analoguestyles within art and design. People Rgetting increasingly interested in old technologies and means of production suchas letterpress, hand-painted signage, andgenerally depending less on the computerfor much of the work. While the computer clearly still dominates the realm of note-taking and creating large bodies of text,the appeal of handwriting is making a small and gradual comeback as an art form that express individuality and cultural awareness is de!nitely becoming a more popular trend. Of coursew while many have written my obituaries, I am everywhere, just not asloud or as dominating as I used to be,just look in any personal diary.

R U currently undergoing resurgencein contemporary culture?


THE COMEBACK KID

What do U think was the reason for a return of Handwriting?

15

THE NEW WORLD


THE COMEBACK KID17

FLYING HIGH AT AGE 5000

I believe those that engage in my traditionof text recording spark a greater appreciation of the written word since the words R physically seen to "ow from Ur hand.It is now recognised to be more personaland intimate, and U have a closer bond to the things U have written. #rough handwriting, thoughts "ow from the motion of Ur hand; U R not obscured by a screen but R part of the complete process. I think that society as a whole has returned to value creativity and individuality that it once threw aside for the sake of e$ciency and stale productivity.

I think I represent individualism, sentiment, a personal connection between text and heart. It’s unique to everyone, something that symbolises one’s personality and emotions by itself. It can represent a mood and a particular moment in time. A typographic snapshot of who U R at a present moment is a really powerful message which can bring a much more profound dynamic to a body of text. In this new paradigm and society I think I o%er a deep psychological aspect that can reveal intimate details about who U R. #ere’seven a new discipline in design circles whichstudy handwriting in relation to a person’s character called graphology, which really isopening doors to more creative avenues into handwriting. #e emerging interactive relationship as a result of this change between handwriting and technologyis the solution to my mid-life crisis. :P

What do U believe U can contributeto our computer dominated contemporary culture?

What do U believe U stand for now?


The World According to Handwriting

Documents

Transcript of The World According to Handwriting