I always felt 5 did the trick.
When the font is well thought-out - normally the asterick has been as well.

One of the ugliest I ever came across was a font named Caledo - it was Alphatype's version of Caledonia. It was one of the three characters they changed to call it a new font. They made an 8-pointed mess of it. I did find great use of it one day. Ballantine Books had one of their "Inspirational" book covers to design and they needed a dingbat to separate the author and title on the spine -- I gave them Caledo's asterick - it was the only place I could ever see it be used.

Glad others think along these lines. You know - the regular people out there would consider us all nuts...

Speak for yourself, Chris! ;-)

Since the asterisk has represented a star as far back as the Sumerian civilization (some 5,000 years ago), the five-pointed version is so familiar to us. There's no reason why some other number of points wouldn't work (although I'd vote for an odd number), but when we see something else, it rates low on the comfort scale.

Looking through some old specimen books, the six-pointed asterisk seems to be most common traditionally, at least 50% more than five pointed ones. I also saw the occasional oddball with four or eight points.

I usually make them with six points in my own fonts. I write them that way, too. It takes only three strokes.

Bringhurst actually talks about the asterisk in Elements. If i'm not mistaken, he states that 6 points are more mechanical and fitting to "modern" styles and the 5 pointed version is more orgainic, fitting for calligraphic forms.

Plenty of smalltalk potential in this thread...

"Excuse me, I'm rushing to teach the next workshop on hand tuning five pointed asterix grayscale bitmaps"

who said calligraphy was about what's easy?

My take or RB's comment is that 5 is more common in nature - you know core of an apple, petals on a flower - that kind of thing. I could be completely wrong...

I guess i just associate the 5 with the ultimate caligraphic serif: Palatino.

five pointed asterix

"Ils sont fous ces typographes!"

>five pointed asterix

Ha, only Mark would have the Gaul to point out my typo ;-)

I remember reading a intesring article a long while back about the Asterisk and it's variant designs dependent on the number of points. From what I remember, it has a lot to do with current cultural trends, and also more specifically to cultural normatives of different societies around the world. Depending on were you are, I think the prefferred number of points varies.

All of the 5 pointed I have seen so far are star-like with one point straight up unless they were italic or oblique. In the italic they are rotated. In the oblique they are ergh.... obliqued. Let me know if you find a font that diverges from this please - I would be interested.

This is a forum to discuss typography; not one where members should attempt to boost page rankings with html signatures.

Let me know if you find a font that diverges from this please - I would be interested.

did you even look at Palatino?

Both Minion and MVB Magnolia also have a five pointed asterisks with a slight rotation. It seems to me that there aren't any hard and fast rules for how many points an asterisk should have, Horley Old Style for instance uses an 8 pointed asterisk.

I personally find an odd number of points more aesthetically pleasing, while an even amount seems to be more natural seeing as most people would create an asterisk with two or more crossing strokes when writing.

My earlier comment about 6 points being easier to hint than 5 was meant in jest, BTW. Any design can be well hinted, and if the effort is put into it, the results will be great no matter which design is used to start.

I hadn't thought of that Nick. I can see how the five point could be helpful there.

ChrisL

Another combination to consider is the double asterisk, traditionally a common usage.
Vertically symmetrical asterisks, however many points, tend to touch points when doubled, so this may be another reason for the slightly rotated asterisks in many fonts.

I had some jobs years ago where they strung as many as 4 in a row instead of using superior figures for footnotes. That was a case of one strange editor's proclivities though.

ChrisL

I sure can Nick!

ChrisL

So does the Federal Register Eben.

ChrisL

Eben, if you're not joking, see http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html

"Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents."

Yasou to you too, Chris! And, albeit quite belated, my sincere best wishes for many happy returns on your birthday, which I trust was nothing short of punderful — with no asterisks required.

RCC

Nice thread (thanks Simon for the heads-up).

Surely the number of points -and the orientation- depend on the font. To me a Didone likes 6, vertical. In my own fonts I tend to use a 5, upside down; the latter because the thing needs help doing its job (getting attention). Sometimes an off-kilter one makes most sense. I can even see a 4 making sense - maybe with strongly flaring ends, like that German cross - what's it called again? Hmmm, how 'about a 3?

The x-height of the font affects these decisions too: when it's big the asterisk can/should be bigger too, which makes a sixer less problematic (in terms of clotting), and reduces the need to make it ask for extra attention (allowing it to be right-side-up).

> six is more man made

Hmmm, snowflakes? Some flowers are sixers too.

> The design of the asterisk may be related to the “f”

Good point.

BTW, just like there's an asterism, we should have a special thing for two asterisks - maybe something where they lock together nicely.

hhp

just like there’s an asterism, we should have a special thing for two asterisks

There is: ⁑ (Unicode 2051)