The New Banner Book. Betty Wolfe

       One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

       O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

       Love One Another

       Praise the Lord

       SAMPLES of various type styles

       SOME THINGS TO DO to make lettering easier and fun

      1 Observe the great variety of letter forms used in printing and advertising. Become aware of their basic shapes, proportions, and individual characteristics.

      2 Make a collection of letters from magazines and newspapers. Include both capital and small letters, roman and italic. Bold letters (with thick strokes) will be especially helpful. Also include samples of condensed (narrow), expanded (wide), and italic letters. Notice the small variations in form that give each typeface its particular style. Look at the width of strokes—where they are thick or thin. Observe the spacing of letters within the word.

      3 Following the directions on page 10, make a chart of CAPS. This is especially helpful if you plan to work with young people or other groups making banners.

       the MESSAGE through WORDS

      Words are made of letters. There are two basic kinds of letters:

      1. capital letters (CAPS)—uppercase, either sans serif or with serifs

      2. small letters—lowercase, either sans serif or with serifs

       CAPS

      Below is a chart of bold sans serif caps arranged according to standard widths.

      Notice: The letters are all the same height, but they vary in width.

       important:

       In sans serif letters, the ends of all straight strokes are square.

       The center horizontal stroke of the E and H is slightly above center.

       On the A and F, the center stroke is below center.

       The vertical of the G is its distinguishing feature.

       The I and J have no cross pieces at top or bottom.

       The diagonals of the K and R hook onto the upright.

       The bottoms of the V, W, and N are almost points. Also, the “V” of the M touches the bottom letter line, and the mid-point of the W touches the top letter line.

       The center stroke of the E and F is as wide as the top stroke.

       small LETTERS

      An alphabet of small (lowercase) letters can be designed from four basic shapes.

These forms are:		1—the o form
		2—the curve of the n
		3—the straight line as in i and I
		4—the diagonal lines

      Combine them to make all of the lowercase letters.

      Notice that only the b, d, h, f, I, and k are tall letters with ascending strokes the height or higher than the caps. The t is shorter than the other tall letters and the cross bar is at the height of the letter line. Note the height of the upper diagonal stroke of the k.

      The g, p, q, j, and y have descending strokes that go below the letter line.

       notice

      In the letters at the right, changing the shape and slant of the three basic shapes will change the style of the alphabet. Try expanding, slanting, joining, and adding serifs to make your own lowercase alphabet.

       PATTERNS for LETTERS

       Here is an easy way to cut your own patterns.

      Cut strips of paper the height of the letters in your banner design.

      Referring to the chart on page 10, mark off the width of each letter in the words of your banner. Try chalk.

      If your patterns turn out to be too large or small, reduce or enlarge them on a copy machine and save lots of time.

      Within these widths, draw the letters. Think about what will be cut away in order to leave the bold letter forms required for a banner.

      Cut