Tag Archives: ampersand

What do you call a collection of ampersands?

What’s the collective noun for ampersands?

I think that an ampersand is an invitation to imagine what will come next. It’s a continuation of an idea, a conversation or a story. The ampersand is sometimes considered to be the 27th letter of the Latin alphabet, originating from the letters ‘et’, Latin for ‘and’, which have been combined to create a single glyph. It’s a character that there is wide affection for and it gives a glimpse of the personality of a typeface without the commitment of being a particular letter.

I asked you what the collective noun might be to describe them, here are some of your inventive suggestions…

“An olding of ands…” Vinita Nawathe

“Admittedly, not a noun but an attribute: ampersandy” Bruno Maag @bruno_maag

“A ligature” Stuart Bannerman @stuartromsey

“A collaboration of ampersands” Julia Woollams @juliaw79

“A Flourish” Caroline Roberts @Copyright_RGD

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Creative Lockdown Project: Music alphabet

Creative Lockdown Project: Music alphabet

Challenge
What music has been the soundtrack to your time in lockdown? Draw, photograph or take screengrabs of the letters from the names of your favourite bands or album covers. Combine these to make up a word or phrase that describes how the music has made you feel at this time of social distancing.

Results
Share your finished project on social media with #CreativeLockdownProject. Tag #TypeTasting as I’ll be sharing some of the results.

These challenges are designed to be a bit of fun and to document our time collectively spent in lockdown. Please share it with friends and post your final results on social media with #CreativeLockdownProject. If you also tag #TypeTasting I’ll be sharing some of the results.

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Creative Lockdown Project: Letter hunt

Creative Lockdown Project

Creative Lockdown Project: Letter hunt

We’re all starting to look forward again as we plan our way in a very changed world. At first, I really missed seeing everybody but I’m constantly amazed by how adaptable humans are as we find new ways to interact online.

This week’s challenge comes from Heidi Robinson of TGSA Creative Arts & Design technology, who also took all the photos.

These challenges are designed to be a bit of fun and to document our time collectively spent in lockdown. Please share it with friends and post your final results on social media with #CreativeLockdownProject. If you also tag #TypeTasting I’ll be sharing some of the results.

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Creative Lockdown Project: You & me colouring together

Creative Lockdown Project: You & me colouring together

This week I’ve really missed being able to hug my family and friends. While it might not be the same as a hug, I’ve found that spending time doing something together creatively over Zoom or Facetime has really helped me to feel less separated from them. This is the inspiration for lockdown challenge number seven.

These challenges are designed to be a bit of fun and to document our time collectively spent in lockdown. Please share it with friends and post your final results on social media with #CreativeLockdownProject. If you also tag #TypeTasting I’ll be sharing some of the results.

Continue reading →

The surprising story of the ampersand & its multiple personalities

An ampersand is an invitation to imagine what will come next. It is a continuation of a conversation or story, but without the context of knowing what went before you can choose where you would like it to go. When the symbol stands alone it is still communicating a huge amount of information from its form and its shapes; is it hand-written, is it old-fashioned and traditional, is it minimalist and modern? Every typeface tells a story independently of the words it spells out.

The ampersand is sometimes considered to be the 27th letter of the Latin alphabet. It comes from the letters ‘et’, Latin for ‘and’. It’s a character that there is wide affection for and it gives a glimpse of the personality of a typeface without committing to be a particular letter. The ampersand takes a wide range of shapes and forms, and it is the skill of the human brain that enables us to recognise that each of these still says ‘and’.

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