Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering × Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording

Decorative lettering as the point versus lettering subordinated to structure and summary.

From the research on Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording

Mix them and make something Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording, their arrangement from Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering, the finish from Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording

Type from Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering: Script
Hand-lettering

Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording avoids script: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Colour from Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording: Limited spot colours
Light ground
Form from Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording: Pictogram
Geometric primitives
Composition from Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering: Central symmetry
Generous white space
Surface from Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering: Painterly brushwork
Paper & letterpress bite

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering

Kin

Kaushan Script, standing in for Brush-pen script (brush lettering): thick downstrokes and thin upstrokes from felt-tip brush pens, brushes and paint pens, often in watercolour

Text · Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording

Notes of a talk, book or meeting drawn live by hand on a single page, mixing hand-lettered headings, simple icons, containers and connectors. Scope: this entry treats personal sketchnoting and professional graphic recording as one practice, though graphic facilitation is older than the term. Clarity matters more than aesthetics.

Schibsted Grotesk; Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording used Hand-lettered bold capitals and Faux-bold outlined lettering

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording, with a counter-accent from Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering Sketchnoting and Graphic Recording

#ffffff ground · 36%
#1a1a1a ink · 14%
#e8452c accent · 18%
#c6a45a accent · 14%
#9a9a9a accent · 10%
#e8c5bd accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffffff;
  --ink: #1a1a1a;
  --accent-1: #e8452c;
  --accent-2: #c6a45a;
  --accent-3: #9a9a9a;
  --accent-4: #e8c5bd;
  --font-display: "Kaushan Script", cursive;
  --font-text: "Schibsted Grotesk", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering: Modern calligraphy is a living trade of freelance calligraphers who sell wedding commissions, workshops and scanned alphabets: commission or license a hand instead of tracing a calligrapher's published names, quotes or practice sheets, and never present a generated hand as the work of a named letterer. Image models write pseudo-script with missing, doubled or garbled letters, so have every word written by hand or checked letter by letter before it goes on an invitation or a sign.