Exploring letterforms

Abstract

It is generally established that one of the most significant step in advancement of written communication was the invention of phonetic alphabet. Since then, design of the written communication, specifically Latin letterform, has not evolved much. Since the design of Latin letterform is universally established, its design and the inspirations behind its design are often not questioned. This thesis investigates the inspirations drawn from the human body to the various developmental stages of written communication and how those inspirations are evident throughout the development of Latin letterforms.

This study explores the research subject in three parts. The first part reviews possible hints of inspirations originating from the human body in visual form. The second part examines the links between the terms employed for human anatomical features and the development of nomenclature for Latin letterforms. The last part of this study explores the possibilities with which the design of the human body influenced the design of Latin letterforms.

After the exploring the aforementioned three parts, this study concludes that there are direct inspirations originating from the human body, which are evident in the various developmental stages of written communication and especially in Latin letterforms. The evidence is found in all three aspects, in visual form, in terminology, and in overall design of Latin letterforms. Additionally, this study establishes that the current design of written communication lacks human-centricity. The results of this study also present us with an approach that helps enable a wider range of human communicative capabilities, offering the opportunity and a unique perspective to help advance the design of Latin letterforms into a dynamic medium.