Reviving Shopkeepers’ Lettering

Before backroom printers and system fonts, everyday calligraphy was abundant in grocery stores and supermarkets. For decades, the letters written by amateur scribes, such as the merchants themselves, were used daily to make price tags and posters hanging in windows. In addition to practical communication, the writing style also served as the signature of each store. This was marketing done with marker pens.

The common writing rules kept the letters recognisable. Still, everyone brought their own individual style to the texts, which made the interior of each store unique. The arches were straightened into almost straight strokes, which were combined with the corners. It made writing faster, but also exaggerated the visibility of the structure when you could distinguish each part of the letters. This was further reinforced by the typical misalignment of these parts.

However, as with any type of handwriting, mastering the technique took a tremendous amount of practice. Some did it well, while others relied more on their personal charisma in their writing style. At its best, price tags were a combination of ambitious penmanship and delightfully personal letterforms.

The strokes were typically made from the bottom up and the angle of the pen tip was reversed from classical calligraphy. Quickly drawn lines formed a kind of Broken Script, where an angle often appears between the curved lines. In continuous writing, some junctions turned into sharp arcs when two lines were drawn with one stroke. The same thing happened to Roman letters in informal handwriting in the 15th century and is now called the Italic style. It gives an attractive pulse to pen writing.