So today isn't a Tuesday. I know, but it's Thursday, right? My knack for consonance has got to count for something!
Today I want to talk about Mr. Rafkin of The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection. I've lately become obsessed with the idea of hand lettered type and cursive. Blame my mild interest in graphology, but I've always had a conflict of feelings over sterilized typefaces such as DIN or Helvetica and the rich uniqueness of hand-drawn letterforms. One day I am attached to a particular style, another day I'm off in the opposite direction. Can one polyamorous with type? Is that allowed?
The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection is a great anthology of calligraphic and hand lettered typefaces found in the early 1930s through World War II. Many of them are based on small handwriting samples, and from them entire alphabets were created.
It's only ironic that they are available now as digital letterforms.
I'm quite attached to the lowercase 'f' in the script. It's sassy and confident, with the perfect amount of sweetness in its lower-zone loop. The typeface manages to balance heavy strokes with unexpected roundness.
This is particularly prevalent in its uppercase letters like Q, G, C, and L. This quirk gives it almost exotic quality — making it similar to Westernized interpretations of Arabic calligraphy seen on television in the 1950s.
