Alpha Phi Omega

Beta Sigma Phi

Alpha Kappa Rho

Lettering- Art of making letters

Lettering technical terms

Lettering- Act of making letters by hands

Printing- an act of making letters by the use of machines.

Alphabet- Asystem of characters or letters use in writing a language. It was derived from the
greek word Alpha and Beta.

Heiroglyphics - Picture writing or sacred writing.

 It was derived from two Greek word “Heros” meaning sacred and “Glyphetin”
meaning to carve

Cuneiform Writing - a form of writing whose letteres have wedge shape, it was taken from
Latin word “Cuneus” which means edge. It originated in Babylon.

History and Development of Letter

A. Egyptians = created the Heiroglyphics, an abstract form of writing off picture writing.
B. The Semites = real inventors of the alphabet; had no symbols for vowels
= created the cuneiform or wedge-shaped writing which originated in
 Babylonia, that developed from a crude or picture writing
C. Phoenicians = made the next step in the development of the alphabet.
= they gave each sound a fixed symbol, there are 22 consonants though
they actually were consonanany-vowels combination.
D. Greeks = they deveploed the first true alphabet of 24 signs called Bousterophedon
writing.
= addition of vowels is their greatest contribution, first letter “Aleph” was a
consonant (Hebrew) unknown to Greeks from Aleph, letter “A” was taken.

“A” was originally a rough picture of a bull’s head became the sign.
E. Romans = during the first century Christian Era, they developed an alphabet off capital
Letters called the majuscules.
= Old Roman did not contain the lowercase letters, it was during the reign off
Charlemaigne in the 14th century A.D. when the Caroline Miniscules, a lowercase
alphabet called the Carolinian letters were invented.

Importance of Lettering

1. Good lettering enhances the appearance of a drawing

2. Add information which the regular orthographic and pictorial drawing cannot show.
3. Poor figuring, can cause grave errors in the manufacture of an article and of much
ffinancial loss.
4. The most important requirement in lettering as used in a working drawing is
legibility, ease and rapidity off execution.
5. Not only useful in working drawings but also in personal correspondence, making
calll cards, signs, posters, labelling books and occassional cards.
6. A student in drawing will derive great satisfaction from its many uses

Learning Requiremnets

1. Knowledge of the shapes and proportions of the individual characteristics of each

letters.
2. Knowledge of the order of strokes and directions of strokes used in making these
letters.
3. Knowledge of t he rules in combining letters in sentences.
4. Constant and correct practice

Styles of Letters

1. Gothic = having the elementary strokes of even width

 = the plainest and most legible style
= widely used for commercial purposes because of its appearance (speedball
A & B)
2. Roman = having the elementary strokes “accented” or consisting of heavy and thin
Strokes
= the ends of the strokes are lines terminated with spurs called verifs

2 Kinds of Roman Style:

a. Old Class
b. Modern

3. Text = include all styles of Old English Text, Church Text, Black Text, German Text,
and others.
= too legible for commercial purposes but it is the most artistic and elaborate of
all styles.
= commonly used in certificates and diplomas (C & D speedball)

ABC - single-stroke Gothic Letters

ABC – Bold Gothic
ABC – drawn/ built-up (square)
ABC – Round Gothic
- Old Roman

ABC – Modern
Parts of A Modern Letter

Thin Stem Stick Stem

Fillet = curved line that connects the stem serif = horizontal lines that
terminates the stem
 4. Italics = inclined letters

ABC
5. Script letters

A B C D E

General Division of Letters

1. Outline/ Built-up Letters – first drawn or outlined and then filled-up for emphasis
2. Written or Single-Stroke Letters – done in a single-stroke manner

Classification of Letters

 According to size
o Uppercase/ capital/ Majuscules
o Lowercase/ small/ miniscule

 Thickness of stem
o Bold Face
o Lightface

 Position
o Vertical Letters
o Inclined Letters

4 Classification of Gothic Letters

1. Single-stroke Vertical capital Letters

2. Single-stroke vertical small letters
3. Single stroke inclined capital lettes
4. Single-stroke inclined small letters

Proporttion of Letters

1. Normal Letters – are used when there is adequate space for lettering
 - Neither too narrow nor too wide and are of uniform height.
2. Compressed Letters – are narrowed than normal letters.
- Are used when space is limited
3. Extended Letters – are bigger than normal letters.
- Are used when the space is too wide

Proportion of Normal Letters

1. T. O. M, Q, V, A, X ,Y = b units in width
2. 1 = 1 unit
3. W = 8 units
4. Rest remaining = 5 units
5. Height = 6 units

Ex.

Guidelines in Lettering

 For Capital Letters

 Horizontal Guidelines – maintain the height of the letters
 Vertical Guidelines – make the letters verticlly and uniformly upright
 Inclined Letters – maintain the proper letter inclination
Note: 67.5⁰ = correct inclination of letters

 For small letters

 Capline/ Ascender line – used for the top part of capital and small letters with extended
parts and above the body of the letters (Ascenders)
 Waistline – Placed B/W the capline and the baseline.
 Baseline – used for the bottom part of capital and small letters without lines extending
below the body of letters
 Dropline/Descender line – used for small letters that have parts extended below the
body of the letter (Descenders)