Recently I reverted to using real paper notebooks, with assorted fountain pen, and I rediscovered the joy of taking notes but more so even the joy of writing on paper. The joy of what I think is a nice font, my own style.
I’ve known since ages that taking notes on a computer or PDA, or with ‘all-in-one-bucket software’ such as the much hyped Evernote or even options like Simplenote for iPhone or WriteRoom for iPhone¹ just weren’t my cup of tea. Sync options or not.

I am not the person who can scribble something down on ePaper. It’s too slow and misses the beautifully handcrafted and written words. Words just look better when written by hand.

My parents’ handwriting was slightly slanted because they held the sheet at an angle, and their letters were, at least by today’s standards, minor works of art. At the time, some – probably those with poor hand- writing – said that fine writing was the art of fools. It’s obvious that fine handwriting does not necessarily mean fine intelligence. But it was pleasing to read notes or documents written as they should be.

This is one of those moments I wished I had a scanner. One of the better things when handwriting was still a well-known and daily practiced pleasure was shorthand. A language everyone with the slightest linguistic brain could understand and which was a lot easier to read than today’s text speak or the even worse imitation of phonetic language we saw become popular over the last months. I cringe every time I have to read of instead of have, even phonetically it is incorrect.

So what happened to the art of handwriting? Umberto Eco chimes in:

The crisis began with the advent of the ballpoint pen. Early ballpoints were also very messy and if, immediately after writing, you ran your finger over the last few words, a smudge inevitably appeared. And people no longer felt much interest in writing well, since handwriting, when produced with a ballpoint, even a clean one, no longer had soul, style or personality.

PS: Everyone who has seen my handwriting style deems it gorgeous but unreadably small. I can read it.
Gondola SD Swash Regular is for some letters scarily close to my handwriting, especially the f. Too bad about the inconsistencies in the swirls and the totally unnecessary swirls in the p and q.

I absolutely love the f of this font.