From the course: Type Tips
Join today to access over 22,500 courses taught by industry experts.
In praise of ampersands
- [Nigel] Hi, I'm Nigel French. Welcome to "Type Tips." This week's type tip is in praise of ampersands. An ampersand is a logo gram; a symbol that stands for a complete word or phrase. And the ampersand is actually a ligature of E-T, et, which is Latin for "and." And some ampersands clearly display this origin. The first use of an ampersand is credited to Marcus Tiro in 63 BC. Tiro was a slave, and in his role as secretary to the Roman lawyer and politician Cicero, he developed a shorthand-writing method that included the ampersand. On the left, we have an image of graffiti from Pompeii around AD 79. The ampersand is a reminder of the calligraphic origins of type, and it's an opportunity for the type designer to cast aside restraint. Robert Bringhurst says in his famous work, "The Elements of Typographic Style," of ampersands, and I quote, "Contemporary offerings are, for the most part, "uninspired, stolid…
Download courses and learn on the go
Watch courses on your mobile device without an internet connection. Download courses using your iOS or Android LinkedIn Learning app.