This work presents the development of the TFC Foundational Hand, a typeface to be used in the calligraphy practice. In calligraphy, the common way to study it is trying to replicate letters presented in books worksheets. This practice has been in use for centuries, but because of the paper media restrictions, there are some limitations. With the typeface, professors can create customized exercises ordinating and eliminating unnecessary information. Filling in worksheets could help in understanding the stroke position, especially in curved strokes. Easily created compositions are useful to study layout. These compositions could also be used for spacing practice. One of the first challenges was to change the reference in letter size in the font editors. Using the default DTP scale can create a difficult process to print the letters in the right size for the broad nib practice. In this way, we changed this scale, increasing the size of the glyph. By doing so, the user simply has to choose the size of the typeface to be 10 times greater than the size of its nib. Another challenge was choosing letterforms from the Foundational hand. Because it is a handcrafted work, the letterforms can change from the same calligrapher and lsp between calligraphers. We created a mix of features based on the letters from many calligraphers, like and the author of the research. They have completed an information design analysis concerning the writing instructions. In this way the authors are presenting an innovative design by bringing information about ductus into the stroke itself. It has two variations, and will be free for use.
TFC—The Development of a Digital Typeface to be Used as a Calligraphy Learning Tool
Carlos Eduardo Brito Novais
