SHOWCARD: A COMPOSITE of MANY SKILLS

Designing a personal "showcard" can be a 5-6 week project. It embraces a variety of lettering skills, measurements, page layouts, creative designing and writing, and is a good review for an entire lettering unit. It encourages skill development as well as inviting new ideas in font design.

The left poster describes the overall content of each part of the showcard. Students completed each section and then arranged them as desired into one background. The first area to be completed was the Favorites list, following the sheet directions on the right.

An alternative to linear arrangement was offered in the left sketch in which words "fit a shape" allowing guide lines to be more free-flowing. In either case, student choices of "favorites" required approval. 7-9 letters was the maximum per line. Arrangements could be perfectly horizontal or free form in concept. All sketches were sized on 6" X 9" newsprint with measured guides lines and labelled fonts. Design requirements were checked before final inking on drawing paper.

Students using computers are very aware of "fonts" and simple clicking to put them in place. Drawing and inking them is another story! These font styles were among those made available for this purpose: Broadway, Umbra, Pump-Tri Line, Desdemona, Mona Lisa,Prisma, Electic, Braggadocio, Arial, Roman Times, Lucida, Legend, Chancery , Shelley Allegro, Harpoon, and others. Styles were selected that would be useable with Roman, Poster and Script pens.