Such specific trends in contemporary art, design and advertising as calligraphy, lettering and typography are constantly present in world trends and have become really widespread.
To finally understand the concepts of "calligraphy", "lettering" and "typography", it is enough to turn to the origins of each design direction.
Lettering is literally translated from English as "writing letters", which brings it closer to the ancient art of calligraphy. However, the following description of the style can be considered closer in meaning. Lettering is a way of drawing letter and character combinations that are united by the same style and composition. As a result, the designer receives a unique graphic drawing with an inscription made in a personal handwriting.
A distinctive feature of the art of lettering is the possibility of endless amendments and modifications in the style, which no calligrapher can afford. Moreover, in lettering, letters, symbols and phrases can be used once for a specific project. This does not require rendering the entire alphabet. Most often this applies to logos, signs, postcards and posters, where you are asked to depict one or more specific inscriptions.
A designer can get creative with writing letters without using a ready-made font, as in typography, and without trying to do everything cleanly from once, as in calligraphy. At the same time, the lettering artist must know and be able to correctly combine the fonts. After all, any inscription will be based on either a calligraphic sketch or one of the existing fonts. This is exactly what lettering combines with typography and calligraphy. In this case, the chosen style, concept and tools used remain at the discretion of the author.
Unlike lettering and typography, calligraphy has existed in Europe since the 16th century and literally translates as "beautiful writing", made according to the established canons. The difficulty of this art of writing letters and symbols lies in the fact that the artist, through trial and error and through long exercises, must achieve flawless writing of letters, reproducing the whole word or phrase in one go. Such painstaking work requires a lot of experience, perseverance and a pedantic desire to get closer to calligraphy. The inscription emerging from the calligrapher's pen has unique strokes, united by a special rhythm and character.
Due to the perfected movements of the master, the chosen instrument, changes in the speed of the pen and tilt, the pressure and the method of applying strokes, an elegant and harmonious writing pattern is obtained. Calligraphy itself is not a style. This is the technology of writing letters, completely dependent on the author, the materials used and historical traditions. At the same time, it unites such styles and fonts as Gothic, Rotunda, Antiqua, Kanchelyareska and others. There are also Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Dutch, American and other schools of calligraphy, which are distinguished by the originality of the style, the shape of the symbols and their execution.
Typography is a popular design art used in type design. In addition to printed materials, it is actively used on sites, both for decoration and for promotion. Typography is increasingly appearing in ads as a primary element to make text work. Therefore, it is preferred when creating a brand, corporate identity for a company or an individual presentation.
Each inscription is designed according to the established rules. The designer selects and combines ready-made fonts, varying layout parameters such as spacing, point size and typeface. Contemporary artists strive to expand the concept of typography and include calligraphic elements and lettering in their work on text design. It turns out an original semantic composition of letters, symbols and whole phrases, carrying a certain message for customers, buyers and readers.
