From the course: Learning Type Design
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Typeface vs. lettering
- [Instructor] Typefaces and lettering are not the same thing. In technical terms, lettering isn't typography at all. Typography is a system of letters that are able to be combined in nearly infinite ways. Lettering is made for a specific purpose. Often a specific time and place. The forms are unique. They may be based on typographic form but they are generally altered and spaced to create a unique lock-up. A specific unalterable order and spacing of forms. From the beginning typography has been in conversation with lettering. The first typefaces were based on lettering. And great pains were taken to make them mimic the effect of calligraphy. Gutenberg's fonts contained a large number of alternates and ligatures. Two or more letters combined into a single glyph. And like the fifteenth century scribes, he was liberal with abbreviations and contractions. Lettering is custom. Like a handmade chair it's one of a kind. Recombining it's parts to produce other words may yield something…
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