Our conventional alphabet contains 19 letters having dissimilar upper and lower case symbols (such as ‘A’ and ‘a’) and 7 letters (c-o-s-v-w-x-z) having symbols that are identical.
It is misleading for a letter, or for any graphic symbol, to have two different designs. Confusion might set in when school children are taught to recognize words even before they have learned to recognize different symbols for the same letter.
To remedy this, Alphabet 26, a plan based upon the logic of consistency, proposed that of the 19 letters that have dissimilar symbols 15 letters should use the uppercase designs [black letters below] and 4 letters should use the lowercase designs [green letters]. The other 7 letters already have identical symbols [blue letters].
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Most of this makes sense, except for the B. It would drive me a bit mad to put double-loop b’s in lowercase form.
I imagine it helps for people w/ dyslexia.
I’ve always loved this. I think though that we can get away with far less of a drastic difference in scale between the miniscule and majiscule. “Caps” can be more subtle to serve the purpose. Subtle extenders can also help with recognition, which Tankard has a good handle on with Disturbance. As does Migraine. Somewhere in the middle of these lies the potential for something really successful, I think.
I’m a book designer, and I disagree. Well-defined capitals and ascenders and descenders help the reader identify words quickly because they recognize the shape. This alphabet would set like cap/small cap, notoriously difficultto read and quite tiresome for anything longer than display text or headings. Disturbance has never been used to set a 300-page book, for good reason, I think. This would be ok for display, but not for long text.
I’M A BOOK DESIGNER, AND I DISAGREE. WELL-DEFINED CAPITALS AND ASCENDERS AND DESCENDERS HELP THE READER IDENTIFY WORDS QUICKLY BECAUSE THEY RECOGNIZE THE SHAPE. THIS ALPHABET WOULD SET LIKE CAP/SMALL CAP, NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT TO READ AND QUITE TIRESOME FOR ANYTHING LONGER THAN DISPlAY TEXT HEADINGS. DISTURBANCE HAS NEVER BEEN USED TO SET A 300-PAGE, FOR GOOD REASON, I THINK. THIS WOULD BE OK FOR DISPLAY, BUT NOT FOR LONG TEXT.
See what I mean?
Carla, I think the lower case ones are still supposed to be smaller than the uppercase… so your example doesnt really work.
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