LETTERING FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES
[Illustration: AN ATTRACTIVE ADVERTISEMENT.
_By kind permission of
Messrs. Benn Bros, Ltd._
]
The ability to produce good lettering is of the utmost importance
to the artist employed in commercial work. The list of things that
require lettering seems almost endless. To mention just a few, there
are posters, catalogue covers, showcards, labels, boxes, packages,
displayed advertisements, calendars, title-pages, book covers, magazine
covers, letter headings, maps, diagrams, etc. This list might be
extended considerably and yet not include all the many things for which
lettering is absolutely necessary.
[Illustration: DESIGN FOR BOOKLET COVER.
_By kind permission
of the House of Vanheems
and Messrs. Clarke
& Sherwell, Ltd._
]
In fact, when one begins to consider the number of things that require
lettering of some description, one begins to realise how essential
it is that the artist should be able to produce good and well-spaced
lettering.
As mentioned before in an earlier chapter, there is nothing like having
plenty of practice with the reed and quill pen to help the student
towards ability to mass and arrange lettering in the best possible way.
The difference between the lettering done by one who has had plenty
of practice with the reed or quill, and one who has had no experience
in this direction, is most noticeable. The one is able to design
with words, while the other is concerned only with the shapes of the
letters. To be able to produce well-arranged lettering it is necessary
to be able to design with words, and familiarity with the reed or quill
gives this facility better than any other training. No matter how the
letters are formed afterwards, the experience gained in massing letters
together in this way to form words will be found to be of great service.
The arrangement of letters to form words is of the utmost importance;
in fact it might be said to be as essential a factor as the formation
of the individual letters.
A well-arranged inscription often adds greatly to the finish of a
drawing, and with the latter it often happens that it is incomplete
without a heading or title of some description. But this, if badly
done, may completely spoil the appearance of the drawing.
[Illustration: A HANDBOOK COVER.]
Maps and diagrams require a simple form of lettering that is distinct
and at the same time can be written in a fairly quick manner. The
style of Roman lettering, formed with simple pen-strokes, shown in
a previous chapter, might be used for this purpose; or the simple
pen-formed italics might be used. For writing these a sharply-cut quill
pen is required.
[Illustration: FIG. 37.]
In Fig. 37 an alphabet is shown which is formed with all strokes
of equal thickness. This is a very useful kind of lettering for
illustrations, maps, and diagrams. It has one distinct advantage: that
is, it can be written with the same pen that the drawing is made with.
If this style of lettering is used, however, it is as well to make sure
that all the strokes are of equal thickness. It should not look like
quill-pen writing badly done. This type of lettering may be upright
or slanting. Until the student is quite familiar with this lettering
two lines may be used. The writing should be done very carefully and
the words should be well spaced. This kind of lettering should be
used only for names on maps, notes on diagrams, or references under
illustrations. When a title is needed for an illustration, or a heading
is required, carefully-drawn Roman lettering should be used. Each
letter should be exact in finish, and at the same time there should be
good arrangement.
For poster work it is essential that the lettering should be bold and
decisive. For hand-written posters, that need to be produced quickly,
the Roman alphabet, formed with simple pen-strokes, given in a previous
chapter, will be found useful. A large reed pen should be used for
this purpose. By using red and black inks very effective hand-written
notices may be produced. If the poster is to be displayed out-of-doors,
waterproof inks only should be used for writing it with. However, this
will be dealt with in the next chapter.
[Illustration: A DESIGN FOR A CERTIFICATE.
BY SIDNEY FARNSWORTH.
_By kind permission of the
National Institute for the Blind,
and the Byron Studios._
]
For lettering on a poster that is to be reproduced, a good strong
Roman type of lettering is the best. The type shown in Fig. 38 is a
very suitable kind. It must be strong, bold, and well displayed. The
principal words must show up strongly defined. For this, and, indeed,
all kinds of commercial design, the lettering must be firm and exact
to a nicety. The looseness that is suited to illumination will not do
for this kind of work. The little accidental turns and twists, which
are one of the charms of illuminated work, would be entirely out
of place in commercial work, which must be firm and strong in every
detail. Penscript is not used to any large extent. The greater part
of the lettering used in commercial design is carefully drawn in an
extremely accurate manner.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.]
When lettering a poster, some endeavour should be made to get a certain
amount of display in the lettering. For example, if the object is to
advertise “Brown’s Tea,” or “Smith’s Cocoa,” great prominence must be
given to these words. The lettering should be so arranged that it is
practically impossible to avoid seeing the name of the commodity that
is being advertised.
[Illustration: Two Designs for Labels.]
Another important thing when lettering advertisements is to see that
each letter is quite distinct. For example, C must not be mistaken for
a G, and _vice versâ_.
For good arrangement in lettering the mistake should not be made of
taking type as a model, as, owing to each type letter being in the form
of a block, it is impossible to space it with the same facility that is
possible with writing. Note the examples given in Fig. 22.
[Illustration: _A Design for a Letter Heading._]
One or two further hints may be useful. It is never advisable to put
two upright strokes too closely together. Also in the case of round
letters, such as O, C, G, etc., these should project slightly over the
line, otherwise they will appear smaller than the other letters. This
should, however, be very slight, as it is easy to overdo this kind of
thing.
When lettering a diagram, if possible keep all the lettering the same
way, so that there is no need to turn the page round to read it. This
is, of course, not always possible, but if it is at all practicable it
is quite the best thing to do.
It is never wise to jumble a number of different styles of lettering
together in one inscription, as is sometimes done. The practice of this
kind of thing tends to make the lettering less readable, besides making
it look somewhat freakish. Sometimes the use of two styles of lettering
together, such as an upright form of Roman lettering and an italic,
helps to emphasize certain words; but when a variety of different forms
is used the only result is to make the lettering look confused.
For the greater part of commercial work a form of Roman lettering is
used. The student who intends to practise this kind of work should
study some of the best modern work. He will have no difficulty in
getting plenty of examples.
When designing a cover for a magazine, one of the first things to be
taken into consideration is how to make it stand out in a striking
manner so that it will be noticed on the bookstall.
[Illustration: A Design for a Music-cover.]
Designs for magazine covers may be roughly divided into two classes,
_viz._, those which occupy the whole of the cover, and those where the
design is in the form of a heading. In any case, however, it is best
that the title should be prominently arranged at the top of the
cover, so that it can readily be seen when the magazine is placed on
the bookstall, and is generally in that position partly covered through
other magazines and books overlapping it. The great thing to remember
is that the object of each design for a magazine cover should be to
make it stand out distinct from all the other magazines on the stall,
so that it can be recognised in an instant.
[Illustration: A Design for a Bookplate.]
One important piece of advice in this kind of work is to avoid making
the lettering look freakish by forming some of the letters quite tiny
and others excessively large in the same word. This is one of the most
prominent signs of the amateur.