Roman Vs. Italic
Recently, after learning of the roots of italic, I have been paying more attention to them and how it seems that majiscules in Italic sets never really seem to fit. The more I look at them, the uppercase is basically just angled. I realize they have been redrawn for the set, but does anyone else sense that disconnect between the upper and lowercase in Italic sets ?
16.Jun.2005 1.11pm
Historically the caps were actually upright romans.
Look at samples of Arrighi’s specimen of italics.
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Yes, I’m old, but I’m back in style!
16.Jun.2005 1.21pm
Eric, yes! And the disconnect is actually an amplification of the disconnect between lc and UC in basic Roman! A “solution” I myself have used in italic caps: semi-serifs (see Patria).
But deeper and more drastic solution would be to delve into uncials...
hhp
16.Jun.2005 4.36pm
As I pondered my question after I posted today, would a Script-esque Uppercase, more condensed, obviously specifically drawn for the lc italics be a solution. I’m going to do some experiments.
16.Jun.2005 5.40pm
Eric, for Arrighi’s calligraphy his caps were quite different (and beautiful) than the roman used for italic type and might give you at least a historic reference.
Sample pages from Arrighi’s Operina, c. 1522 (published 1524)
http://www.acmedigital.net/jiansabu/arrighi.htm
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Yes, I’m old, but not as old as Arrighi!
17.Jun.2005 6.43am
Norbert, that sample is amazing. Has anyone attempted a digital interpretation of Arrighi’s calligraphy? Looks like a prime candidate to me...
17.Jun.2005 6.50am
A digital version of Arrighi’s calligraphy with auto ligatures like in Underware’s Bello would be soooooooo nice. With that and Zapfino, pens are in for extinction!
17.Jun.2005 6.58am
More Operina:
http://briem.ismennt.is/4/4.4.3a/4.4.3.11.page1.htm
17.Jun.2005 7.19am
I believe James Grieshaber may be working on an OT version of Operina. If it’s anything like Cezanne Pro, then expect very cool OT features.
17.Jun.2005 12.56pm
I was just about to suggest Operina from P22, when I scrolled a little further and voila, Paul had already done it.
Operina Opentype??? Please don’t tease, Paul!