Scripts & Cursives (1)

Carl Shank • July 30, 2026

Scripts & Cursives. In typography and calligraphy, the terms script and cursive are related but not synonymous. They are often used interchangeably in popular usage, but type historians and calligraphers generally distinguish them by purpose, construction, and historical origin. While all cursive-inspired fonts are script typefaces, not all script faces are cursives. Thus, a calligraphic font with disconnected capitals and lowercase letters is a script font, but not truly cursive.


Background. Two previous posts are a good place to start this discussion — See "Calligraphy & Typography" at https://www.caretypography.com/calligraphy-typography. Also, see "Pen-Lettering History" at https://www.caretypography.com/pen-lettering-history. In typographic terminology, script refers to a class of typefaces designed to emulate handwriting or calligraphy, regardless of whether letters are connected. Cursive, by contrast, refers to a style of handwriting characterized by connected, flowing letterforms developed for efficient writing. Consequently, cursive writing is one important source of script typefaces, but script typography also includes many designs that are not truly cursive.


Robert Bringhurst in The Elements of Typographic Style (Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, 2012) classifies script as a category of typefaces derived from handwriting and distinguishes formal and informal script traditions. He notes that "there are thousands of typefaces that stand outside the conservative and tradition-bound world of text type, and that look as if they might have been handwritten rather than drawn, carved or inscribed. Some are formal, some informal, some connected and some made of separate letters. Typographers often lump them together unscientifically as script types." (p. 193, 1992 Edition).


Bringhurst says that "in general, scripts are also more closely tied to particular moods, places and times than text types are, and types that pass quickly in and out of fashion are extraneous to the subject of this book." (p. 193) He notes that scripts are important only as "setting off" a single word or line of normal text copy. He then discusses the typefaces Beowolf, Carolina, Legende, Ondine, Present and Salto.

Highlighting Scripts. There are "formal" scripts, "casual" scripts, "brush" scripts, "calligraphic" scripts, "Copperplate-inspired" scripts, and "Spencerian-inspired" scripts.


Formal scripts exhibit a high contrast between thick and thin strokes, long, graceful swashes, connected letters, and formal rhythm and symmetry. Samples include Bickham Script Pro, Edwardian script and Palace script. Such scripts showcase fine handwriting and extravagant flair.


Together, Edward Cocker, John Ayres, Thomas More William Smith, Thomas Seddon and Charles Snell preserved and refined England's major script traditions through engraved copybooks. They standardized handwriting used in commerce, education, and government. They created engraved letterforms that served as prototypes for script typefaces, Bridging the worlds of calligraphy, engraving, and typography during a period before script could be easily reproduced with movable type. They laid the aesthetic foundation for many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century script fonts, especially those based on Round Hand and Copperplate traditions.


More on Bickham script can be found at the post "English Penman Calligraphic Fonts" at https://www.caretypography.com/english-penman-calligraphic-fonts.


Casual scripts include faces like Mistral, Freestyle Script, Kaufmann, Segoe Script, Comic Sans Script, and Pacifico.


Characteristically they have irregular letterforms, moderate connections,  natural handwritten appearance, and a friendly and informal tone.


Brush scripts, populat between 1940-1960s, include Brush Script MT, SignPainter, Ballpark Weiner, Thirsty Script, Playlist Script, and Brusher.


They offer variable brush strokes, bold movement, visible texture or dry-brush effects, and dynamic, energetic appearance.


Calligraphic scripts include faces like Zapf Chancery, Lucida Calligraphy, Poetica, Cantoni, and Linoscript.


They are based on historical penmanship, authentic pen stroke modulation, elegant capitals, and often include alternate characters and ligatures.


Copperplate-inspired scripts are based on the engraved English Round Hand style popularized in the eighteenth century. Examples include Snell Roundhand, Bickham Script Pro, English 157, Shelley Script, Adorn Garland.


They offer high contrast between thick and thin strokes, oval letterforms, precise engraving style, and elaborate capitals and flourishes.


Spencerian-inspired scripts derive from the nineteenth-century American business handwriting developed by Platt Rogers Spencer. They emphasize graceful movement and rhythmic curves. Examples here include

Spencerian Script, Young Baroque, P22 Cezanne, Palmer Script, Spencerian Palmer Penmanship, and Scriptissimo Forte Middle.


Characteristics are light, flowing rhythm, delicate hairlines, long ascending and descending loops, less rigidity than Copperplate, and they are designed for rapid, beautiful handwriting.


Not every script is cursive. Many display scripts have disconnected letters while still looking handwritten. Formal scripts are often used on invitations and diplomas. Casual scripts are used on greeting cards. Brush scripts are found on posters and advertising packaging. Calligraphic scripts can be used for religious or artistic certificates. Copperplate-inspired scripts can be found on luxury branding and wedding stationery. Spencerian-inspired scripts are used on logos, certificates and for historical reproductions.


Successful Layout & Design

Typeface Characteristics: Which Type Where?

By Carl Shank • September 9, 2026
Typeface characteristics are the visual and structural features that distinguish one typeface from another. They determine a typeface’s historical appearance, readability, personality, and appropriate use. Useful Ways to Analyze Any Typeface. When examining an unfamiliar typeface, ask these questions in order (provided by ChatGPT) — Does it have serifs? What kind of serifs? How much thick/thin contrast is present? What is the stress angle? What is the x-height? How wide or narrow are the letters? How are the counters constructed? What do the terminals look like? What are distinctive letters such as a, g, e, R, and Q doing? How does the typeface behave in a paragraph—open, dark, dense, airy, mechanical, or calligraphic? What historical or technological process does its construction suggest? What personality does the combination of these characteristics produce? There are a number of online sources to help identify typefaces ( See Feb. 6, 2022 Blog for more explanation and use.) Sources include — MyFonts ( www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont ), FontSquirrel ( www.fontsquirrel.com/matcherator ) WhtFontIs ( www.whatfontis.com ) Identifont ( www.identifont.com ) is one of the best. Here are the questions it will ask you — Does it have feet (serifs) or not (sans-serifs)? What style is the tail on uppercase Q? What style is the ampersand (the &)? Is the numeral “4” open or closed? What style of vertical line does the Dollar sign ($) have? How high is the center vertex of the uppercase M? Sit on the line or not? What type of bar does the uppercase G have? How far below the baseline does the uppercase J extend? What about the uppercase R? How far does the center bar extend? Is there a gap with the vertical part of the letter? Does it meet or cross the vertical? What about the question mark (?) What shape is the dot at the bottom? Is it circular, square, triangular, rectangular or even missing? The important point is that a typeface should not be identified by a single characteristic. Its identity comes from the interaction of serifs, contrast, stress, proportions, counters, terminals, spacing, and letterform construction.

More on Variable Fonts (2)

By Carl Shank • September 5, 2026
Google’s variable font selection includes IBM Plex Sans, Inter, Newsreader, Open Sans, Playfair Display, Express Fraunces and Roboto. FF Meta Variable is now a licensed font from Monotype (myFonts.com). Formata Variable is a demonstration only font from CARE Typography. We consider two Google Variable typefaces here — Playfair Display and Express Fraunces. Playfair Display Playfair Display is a high-contrast transitional/display serif typeface designed by Claus Eggers Sørensen and released through Google Fonts in 2011. It was designed primarily for large display sizes, especially headlines, titles, and editorial typography. Its appearance draws inspiration from the late eighteenth-century transition from traditional broad-nib writing toward pointed steel pens, as well as from the elegant typefaces associated with the European Enlightenment and neoclassical period. Playfair Display is a contemporary high-contrast serif designed primarily for display typography. Its visual ancestry lies in the 18th-century transitional period, particularly the movement from broad-nib calligraphic forms toward the sharper, more vertical forms that ultimately produced Didot and Bodoni.
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