“A collection of letters, numbers, punctuation, and other symbols used to set text (or related) matter. Most people use these terms interchangeably, but if you’re interested in the very slight nuance, here’s a great definition from Fontshop: You might be wondering what the difference is between a font and a typeface. That’s why you see a lot of popular fonts now that look hand-lettered (they likely originally were created by hand) but once they are used in a repeatable, type-able fashion, they slide more squarely into this typography category. Sources differ a bit on whether “typography” is considered under the larger “lettering” umbrella, but if you’re utilizing a font or typeface that can be repeated, it’s safe to use the term “typography.”Ī caveat: It is actually possible to create an “illustrated typeface” or a “hand-lettered font” which begins with a hand-lettered alphabet that is then turned into a font file which creates the repeatable system. It’s not a specific style of writing or creating letters and words, but more the arrangement of how those letters appear together in a system. It’s the style and appearance of a printed material or the art of arranging type. Typography is a repeated system of letters. It traditionally uses specific tools like a nib and ink, and it is marked by a variation in width for the upstrokes and downstrokes of each letter (which is what separates it a bit from cursive writing.) Calligraphy is more likely than lettering to be used in longer written pieces. Hand-Lettering is a more specific subset of lettering that refers to the art of drawing letters specifically by hand and not creating them in a digital program like Illustrator.Ĭalligraphy is the art of writing letters and is related to the idea of penmanship. Lettering can be created by hand on a non-digital medium, by hand with a stylus in a digital program OR with the click of a mouse to create vector curves by a digital program like Illustrator. Lettering is the umbrella term often used to talk about anything that involves drawing letters versus writing letters.

Rather than simply writing letters in a print or cursive style with a continuous stroke, the thing that sets “lettering” apart is the individual attention paid to each letter and its role within a composition. Lettering is the art of drawing letters where each letter acts as its own mini illustration.

Hand lettered typeface