A swash is a typographical flourish, such as an exaggerated serif, terminal, tail, entry stroke, etc., on a glyph.[1][2][3] The use of swash characters dates back to at least the 16th century, as they can be seen in Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi's La Operina, which is dated 1522. As with italic type in general, they were inspired by the conventions of period handwriting.[4] Arrighi's designs influenced designers in Italy and particularly in France.[5]
Swashes marked with red colorMinion Pro in capital letters in regular (1), italic (2) and swash (3) style
Typefaces with swashesedit
Most typefaces with swashes are serif fonts, among which (if present) they are often found solely in italics. Advanced digital fonts often supply two italic designs: one with swashes and a more restrained standard italic.
Among transitional typefaces, Baskerville's original design has swashes on J, N, Q and T. Some revivals remove these, while others may add more. Mrs. Eaves has a particularly large number.[10]
Sans-serif fonts with swashes are rarer, but some were released in the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne style of the 1930s, including for Tempo[13] and Semplicità.[14] Classiq by Yamaoka Yasuhiro, based on Garamond, contains swash italic designs, as do Goudy'sSans Serif Light Italic and Mr Eaves by Zuzana Licko, a sans-serif derivative of her serif family Mrs Eaves.[15] Helvetica Flair, a redesign of Helvetica with swashes by Phil Martin, is considered a hallmark of 1970s design, and has never been issued digitally. It is considered to be a highly conflicted design, as Helvetica is seen as a spare and rational typeface and swashes are ostentatious: font designer Mark Simonson described it as "almost sacrilegious". Martin would later recall being accused of "typographic incest" by one German writer for creating it.[16][17]
Some historical revivals add optional swashes to designs that did not originally have them to produce a more varied design. For example, Adobe Garamond Pro's swash design is based not on the printing of Claude Garamond himself but on designs by his younger contemporary Robert Granjon.[18] The original Caslon italic had swashes only on the letters JQTY; others have been added since by revivals of his designs.[19][a]
Extensive use of swashes in a 1560 edition of Calvin. Swashes are used on capitals throughout and on many letters at the end of words too. This use would probably now be considered excessive.
Helvetica Flair, a redesign of the sans-serif font Helvetica with swashes
^Henry, Frank S (1917). Printing: A Textbook For Printers' Apprentices, Continuation Classes, And For General Use In Schools. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 82.
^Schwartz, Christian. "Back with a flourish". Eye Magazine. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
^Tracy, Walter (1991). "The Alternatives". Bulletin of the Printing Historical Society (30).
^Adobe Type Library Reference Book (3 ed.). Adobe Systems. 2007. ISBN9780132701365.
^Lawson, Alexander (1990). Anatomy of a Typeface. David R. Godine. p. 91. ISBN978-0-87923-333-4.
^According to Justin Howes, the swash capitals sold by the H.W. Caslon Company in the late 19th to 20th centuries with the Caslon type were "based rather closely on François Guyot's [popular c. 22pt] italic of around 1557 ... found in English printing until the early years of the eighteenth century."[20]
January 19, 2024
swash, typography, swash, typographical, flourish, such, exaggerated, serif, terminal, tail, entry, stroke, glyph, swash, characters, dates, back, least, 16th, century, they, seen, ludovico, vicentino, degli, arrighi, operina, which, dated, 1522, with, italic,. A swash is a typographical flourish such as an exaggerated serif terminal tail entry stroke etc on a glyph 1 2 3 The use of swash characters dates back to at least the 16th century as they can be seen in Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi s La Operina which is dated 1522 As with italic type in general they were inspired by the conventions of period handwriting 4 Arrighi s designs influenced designers in Italy and particularly in France 5 Swashes marked with red colorMinion Pro in capital letters in regular 1 italic 2 and swash 3 styleTypefaces with swashes editMost typefaces with swashes are serif fonts among which if present they are often found solely in italics Advanced digital fonts often supply two italic designs one with swashes and a more restrained standard italic Among old style typefaces some releases of Caslon such as Adobe Caslon and Garamond including Adobe Garamond Pro and EB Garamond have swash designs 6 7 Old style typefaces which include swashes but do not follow a specific historical model include Minion by Robert Slimbach and Nexus by Martin Majoor 8 9 Among transitional typefaces Baskerville s original design has swashes on J N Q and T Some revivals remove these while others may add more Mrs Eaves has a particularly large number 10 Didone fonts with swashes include Surveyor and ITC Bodoni 11 12 Sans serif fonts with swashes are rarer but some were released in the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne style of the 1930s including for Tempo 13 and Semplicita 14 Classiq by Yamaoka Yasuhiro based on Garamond contains swash italic designs as do Goudy s Sans Serif Light Italic and Mr Eaves by Zuzana Licko a sans serif derivative of her serif family Mrs Eaves 15 Helvetica Flair a redesign of Helvetica with swashes by Phil Martin is considered a hallmark of 1970s design and has never been issued digitally It is considered to be a highly conflicted design as Helvetica is seen as a spare and rational typeface and swashes are ostentatious font designer Mark Simonson described it as almost sacrilegious Martin would later recall being accused of typographic incest by one German writer for creating it 16 17 As swashes are based on period handwriting script typefaces with swashes are common and include Zapf Chancery and Zapfino both by Hermann Zapf Some historical revivals add optional swashes to designs that did not originally have them to produce a more varied design For example Adobe Garamond Pro s swash design is based not on the printing of Claude Garamond himself but on designs by his younger contemporary Robert Granjon 18 The original Caslon italic had swashes only on the letters JQTY others have been added since by revivals of his designs 19 a nbsp Extensive use of swashes in a 1560 edition of Calvin Swashes are used on capitals throughout and on many letters at the end of words too This use would probably now be considered excessive nbsp Helvetica Flair a redesign of the sans serif font Helvetica with swashes nbsp Flamboyant swashes in the Zapfino typefaceReferences edit Henry Frank S 1917 Printing A Textbook For Printers Apprentices Continuation Classes And For General Use In Schools New York John Wiley amp Sons Inc p 82 Schwartz Christian Back with a flourish Eye Magazine Retrieved 31 March 2018 Tracy Walter 1991 The Alternatives Bulletin of the Printing Historical Society 30 Adobe Type Library Reference Book 3 ed Adobe Systems 2007 ISBN 9780132701365 Lawson Alexander 1990 Anatomy of a Typeface David R Godine p 91 ISBN 978 0 87923 333 4 Adobe Caslon glyph list PDF Adobe Duffner Georg EB Garamond Features Retrieved 30 August 2014 Minion PDF Adobe Systems Retrieved 30 August 2014 Majoor Martin My Design Philosophy Retrieved 30 August 2014 Wolson Andrew Baskerville Font Slate Retrieved 1 September 2014 Surveyor Overview Hoefler amp Frere Jones Retrieved 1 September 2014 ITC Bodoni 72 Swash Book Italic MyFonts Linotype Retrieved 1 September 2014 Schwartz Christian Back with a flourish 5 Christian Schwartz on swaggering swashes Eye Retrieved 31 March 2018 Di Lena Leonardo Semplicita Studio Di Lena Retrieved 18 April 2017 Yasuhiro Yamaoka Classiq YOFonts Simonson Mark Interview with Phil Martin Typographica Retrieved 30 August 2014 Puckett James 5 March 2012 Helvetica Flair photo of specimen book Flickr Adobe Garamond Pro PDF Adobe Retrieved 30 August 2014 Berkson William November 2010 Reviving Caslon I Love Typography Retrieved 21 September 2014 Howes Justin 2000 Caslon s punches and matrices Matrix 20 1 7 Notes According to Justin Howes the swash capitals sold by the H W Caslon Company in the late 19th to 20th centuries with the Caslon type were based rather closely on Francois Guyot s popular c 22pt italic of around 1557 found in English printing until the early years of the eighteenth century 20 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Swash typography amp oldid 1147773708, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
