Ever since the grunge era, the appearance of graffiti and the work David Carson during the ‘90s, typography has been gaining momentum. More and more designers are making careers in type and custom lettering, both being regular members of their lists of skills and disciplines.
Still, the more typography and lettering have developed, the more misunderstanding of their meaning has there been, and people are still confusing the concepts even nowadays. This article has the exact purpose of clearing them, and explaining what is typography and what is not.
Image source: Burnt Toast Creative
Many people still say ‘cool type’ for everything that looks nice and has letters in it. The thing they’re looking at, however, is called lettering; it’s just that they don’t know the difference between typography and lettering.
Lettering is more of a craft where shapes are specifically designed to match each other in a specific word/phrase.
Why is the difference so confusing (and why is that so important)?
The reason why even designers confuse between typography and lettering is that they are created with the same tools and methods: our computers. Lettering can only be done with brushes/nibs and ink, while types are made with letterpress and printing press.
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The disciplines seem very similar at first sight, but they are more different than you can imagine.
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Lettering is used only for specific purposes, meaning that each design is written only once, and in a determined context.
On the opposite, types’ letter shapes are usually the same in every context. Finally, fonts use alternated and ligatures to emulate the variation of lettering, while the type remains the same: systematized premade letters subject to reproduction.
What is Typography?
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Typography examines how letterforms interact with each other when on the same surface, and decides how the type should be set for prints. Certain definitions describe it as the arrangement, style and appearance of typeset, and a product of movable printing systems used for centuries so far.
Typesetting is also related to type design, and it represents a basic skill most of us should know to cope with this digitally-driven design environment.
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Typography is most applied in books and other reading material produced on large scales.
At the very dawn of the printing press, characters were first physically molded and then transferred to a typesetting machine to be imprinted on paper. Nowadays, typography is digital and therefore far more accessible to large masses. Typesetting machines are replaced by programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and other font editors.
As a matter of fact, typography is the ancestor of lettering, because it studies foremost the letters that are applied to typefaces. For certain designers, letterpress printing is more of a hobby, and they use either typesetting or typography for many of their projects.
Image source: Mike Smith
This being said, it is no wonder people confuse lettering for typography, but for designers this is a mistake that must be avoided when discussing projects with their clients.
Basically, typography (or custom lettering) is what they’re supposed to use in logos, and the client has to know that. Right terms are simply essential for the sake of proper communication.
What is Lettering?
Lettering is more about drawing than writing. What it means is that even a person who can’t say or understand a single word in Japanese would be able to design a breathtaking Japanese script. Compared to typography, lettering is more easygoing, and gives clear priority to art compared to strict design rules.
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The easiest way to understand lettering is to think of it having a double personality: from the one side, it illustrates letters to create configurable design, but from the other, it is used to create artistic compositions rather than throwing individual pieces that may or may not work together.
To be clearer, if we had to rearrange individual alphabet characters in a lettering project, we’d most probably create a purely amateur-looking piece.
Image source: Nick Slater
What the letterer does is to ‘scratch’ his letters on paper, a Wacom tablet, or via image editing programs, and add artistic elements only afterward. However, the final product is still supposed to appear as a transcending medium.
Finally, lettering is perceived as being quirky and less perfect in comparison to the military-perfected typography. But according to many that’s exactly where the charm hides.
Typography Vs Lettering: Differences and similarities
Image source: Steve Wolf
Both typography and lettering share the same visual concepts, such as spacing, contrast, and weight, meaning that certain design rules often apply for both disciplines.
The terms being used for the two are what really differ. For instance, we call space between two text lines in a typeset ‘leading’, mostly referring to the specific lead strip printers would add to the lines to make text look more organized. In the case of lettering the same concept would be called line spacing.
Image source: Steve Wolf
Space is often neglected when speaking of letters, but that doesn’t weaken its importance. And the fact that it is exactly space what designers get wrong in some horrible typography. Working with types also refers to adjusting horizontal spaces between the characters (the so-called kerning).
In the case of typesetting, kerns are parts of a glyph extending beyond the type blocks used as bases for molding characters.
In the case of lettering, however, this should not be discussed as kerning. To be clearer, ‘A’ and ‘V’ will not be kerned. But brought closer to each other by tightening the space between them.
Check out: Beautiful Web Typography – Best Practices And Fonts To Use
Image source: Szende Brassai / Adline
Typography originates for lettering and calligraphy, both complemented with hand-lettered decorations and inspired by traditional and sophisticated calligraphic styles.
Calligraphy is another kind of lettering, namely writing in an artistic manner, using built-up letters and drawing with multiple strokes. On the other hand, typography involves using prefabricated writing or letters that were already designed for another purpose. As you see, purpose is the most important difference between the two.
Image source: Simon Walker
Long before typography appeared on the horizon, scribes applied calligraphy to write entire books by hand, but still did it in an amazing and functional way, adding aesthetic value that can hardly ever be achieved with digital means.
Artists work on special paper and use distinctive pens, brushes, and inks to make strokes blend together and flourish. There are many other tools that can divide traditional calligraphy from technology. Even if human touch is always the most valued one.
Conclusion
Image source: Simon Walker
Typography is not lettering, and lettering is not typography. They are quite similar to each other since they’re both dealing with letters. But their context and use are very different. The difference consists mostly of the fact that hand drawings are full of character and personalized messages. And are therefore meant for one-time use.
Check out: Importance Of Typography In Web Design
We hope that our separate explanations of lettering and typography have improved your capacity to distinguish them. And your skills to use them properly for your projects. Similar or diverse, lettering and typography are huge and important design sections.
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