De streek: Chapter 3

The orientation of the front

In figure 3.1 the direction of the strokes differ but the orientation of their counterpoints is the same. The orientation of their counterpoints is the orientation of their frontline.

The direction of the front is perpendicular to the frontline. The direction of the stroke is consequently not the direction of the front: in figure 3.2 the direction of the stroke at its ends is perpendicular to the direction of the front. In this case the front is stationary while the stroke advances. The movement of the stroke does not necessarily coincide with the movement of the front. (The speed of the front is the speed of the stroke times the cosine of the angle between the direction of the front and the direction of the stroke. In figure 3.1 this angle is a) At the end of the stroke the pen is lifted and positioned for the following stroke, bringing with it a new front (figure 3.3).



The stroke of figure 3.4 bends in the direction of the frontline. The front comes to a full stop. However the stroke bends further and the front is set in motion again, now in the opposite direction.

In figure 3.5 the stroke doubles back abruptly. In the letter in figure 3.6 the front moves forward and returns. As long as the stroke involves no rotation the front sweeps across an area bounded by parallel lines (translation of the frontline). When rotation is a factor, the front fans out.

In principle, there are two possibilities: for all the strokes of a script, the front either moves in a single direction (this I call an interrupted construction), or strokes occur in the script in which the front reverses its direction [turns back] (this I call a returning construction).
In handwriting a stroke in which the writer draws the front toward his hand is called a downstroke and the portion of a stroke that has the front returning is called an upstroke. Outside handwriting there are no downstrokes or upstrokes, but usually it is possible to make use of these terms as a manner of speaking. Interrupted construction is, then, a construction (or writing style) which consists only of downstrokes, and a returning construction has joining upstrokes between the downstrokes. In a computer program the direction of the front would , however have to be identified because the computer can not come up with a representration of a hand that makes downstrokes and upstrokes.

The frontline in figure 3.7 is the end of all the strokes. The strokes whose fronts move in direction a are the downstrokes, the strokes whose fronts move in direction b are upstrokes

Every culture knows an interrupted construction (figure 3.8) as well as a returning construction (figure 3.9). In Japanese writing, for example, kaisho is the interrupted and gyousho the returning construction. This is due, not to a secret plot, but to irreconcilable human ideals. A returning construction can be written more quickly (with a ÒrunningÓ hand) than an inter- rupted construction, but with an interrupted construction it is easier to maintain control. Moreover, there are combinations of material and equipment which don’t accomodate the making of upstrokes. In returning construction the articulation of the letterfrom can be sacrificed to the speed of execution. Articulation and speed are antipodes in the developement of writing. Returning construction is characteristic of informal writing, although a returning construction can also be paired with marked articulation.

With excessive speed a returning construction annihilates itself. In figuur 3.10 the front has no time to turn back. The upstroke has degenerated into a sideways shift of the stroke, after which the movement of the front is resumed. In the running hand of the Netherlandic mannerists this rapid writing is cultivated. Any faster and the front would not come to a halt and all that remains of writing is an undulating line.
In western writing the romans are the current reperesentatives of an interrupted construction (figure 3.8). Opposite it is the cursive (figure 3.9). The cursive is descendant from the returning construction but the formal (articulated) form of the cursive is often interrupted. The returning and the interrupted cursive differ in the linking of their stems. If in returning construction an upstroke runs from thick to thin (figure 3.11), the bond of thick and thin runs from thin to thick in interrupted construction (figure 3.12) and vice versa.
Returning construction is the most important force in the development of writing, but increased speed or marked articulation can be its undoing.