Daphne Script
Georg Salden on the creation of »Daphne Script«:
Designs for typefaces don’t come to designers out of thin air; they grow from within. Sometimes it’s necessary to look to the beginning to find where a design originated from. It’s said that I began handwriting at 11 years of age, having taught myself how to do so. The word ‘writing’ often refers to the creation of literary texts, but actually writing by hand – at least when first practicing – focusses on the consistent arrangement of letters’ specific shapes. Calligraphy, however, carves the characters of words into more interesting graphics.
After finishing my secondary-level education, I attended an evening course at the Folkwang School to prepare for my future studies. While I usually held my dip pen at a 45-degree angle to the paper, Erich Ruehl taught a method holding the pen perpendicular to the page, writing a cursive slanted to the right. I soon got used to holding the pen in this way I began with a wider nib, later adopting a kind of English longhand that was written with a sharper, springier steel nib. Pressing on the quill caused it to expand, forming the broader body strokes of the character. Even the curls and flourishes had a different deliberate style than the 45-degree position.
The wide nib produced a stroke that yielded a compact character body, which I used in 1966 for the Daphne typeface. The pointed nib created a lighter and livelier image, which I liked so much that in the first semester of my studies, I wrote out a short story by Ernst Glaeser, Marynka im Ried, on 18 pages, double sided, and bound them into a booklet, 25 centimetres by 35 centimetres.
I wrote a large number of pages with a very small nib while I was working on the OTF version of Daphne Regular in 2011-12, in order to rediscover the rhythm of the motion used at the time. For me, it was also about the largest selection of resources possible. Other forms of writing developed, of course. Twenty years cannot compete with eighty. And printed typefaces are not and cannot be handwriting. In comparison with Daphne, the ornamentation of the Daphne Script is in the upper-case characters, which can be substituted by numerous alternatives. The lower-case characters are slim and flourish on the ascender or descender. They also have some alternative letters, particularly for the end of words. I appreciated that they retained their looser, more irregular handwritten quality.
The Daphne Script can probably only be related to Daphne as its opposite, not as a complimentary typeface. It is suitable for any festive occasions and times of tenderness: like poems, new born babies, engagements, weddings, dances and any joyous, celebratory social event. It’s also good for certificates and book covers. It should not be printed too small and should be used with a lot of open space around it.
A woman who my mother knows
Came in and took off all her clothes.
Said I, not being very old,
»By golly gosh, you must be cold!«
»No, no!« she cried. »Indeed I’m not!
I’m feeling devilishly hot!«
Came in and took off all her clothes.
Said I, not being very old,
»By golly gosh, you must be cold!«
»No, no!« she cried. »Indeed I’m not!
I’m feeling devilishly hot!«
Daphne Script is based on Georg Salden’s own cursive handwriting. The result is a charming design with elegantly curved characters, calligraphic swashes, and a variety of alternate characters.
Daphne Script includes alternate characters accessible via the OpenType features Stylistic Sets and Stylistic Alternates.
Daphne, designed by Georg Salden in 1970, is based on a bold italic he originally wrote with a broad-nib pen (top). Years later, he created an elegant and lively script version — once again using a broad-nib pen: Daphne Script, a gentle typeface with luscious swashes and numerous alternate characters (see below).
Comparision of Daphne (top) and Daphne Script (bottom).
Original handwritten letters with corrections and printout of the digital typeface.