The origin of lettering can be traced back in the time of the Egyptian when they started to write using pictures in the 10th century; their writing is called as hieroglyphics. Another development in writing as well as in lettering happened when the Phoenicians developed their 22 letters; they called this as the cuneiform form of writing.
The ancient Greeks also contributed as they introduced the Greek alphabet called as the Boustrophedon. Today, we are using the present day alphabet which was introduced by the Romans.
Lettering is important in several aspects. The lettering sometimes adds other information which cannot be delivered
by the regular orthographic or pictorial views. Lettering also helps to transmit ideas and records; it is also considered as the language of the industry.To be able to perform well in lettering, one should have the knowledge of the basic shapes as well as on the basic properties of every character. One should also have basic knowledge in the direction of strokes that makes every character. One should also have the knowledge of the basic rules for the combining of letters into the words and into the sentences. Nevertheless, lettering needs a constant practice and needs to be developed.
There are different styles of letters that are used in Lettering. These styles are the Single Stroke Gothic Letters, the Roman letters, the Italic Letters, and the
Text letters.The Single Stroke Gothic Letters are characterized of having an elementary strokes or stems that have even width or thickness. All of the letters which posses the said features are belong to this category.
There are different classifications of Single Stroke Gothic Letters; these are the Single stroke with vertical capital or uppercase letters, Single stroke vertical small or lower letters, Single Stroke inclined capital or uppercase letters and Single stroke inclined small or lower letters.
The Roman letters are characterized of having strokes that are accented or consisting light and heavy lines. This style of letter also consists of thick as well as thin lines.
The Italic Letters are characterized are those letters that are slant. It may further characterized as either Roman Italic as well as Gothic Italic.
The Text Letters are includes all the styles of old English, the German text, the Bradley text as well as other various trade names of text.
There are different proportions in writing letters; these are Normal, Compressed, and Extended.
The Normal proportion is used when the writing space is adequate; Compressed when the space is limited and Extended when the space is too wide to write on.