Typophile - Initial Drop Cap with Slant - Comments

The larger the initial

will powers — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:48:16 -0700

The larger the initial letter, the more important it is to “shape” the text block to that initial. I almost always have text following a cap A slide at an angle down the right stroke. This allows you to make a more coherent form out of the first word.

Many typographers tuck the first line into an L, and sometimes subsequent lines, depending on the size of the L and the nature of the design.

It depends on the shape of an O, but sometimes the first line needs to be drawn close to the cap to make the first word form up well. Also for Q and for R some times.

It is not often seen that text following W or V follows the right stroke to the left. But with really large caps the case can be made, especially in heavily designed matter.

With “straight” initial caps I often snug the first line to the cap and then insert an en space between cap and text in subsequent lines.

Have fun.

powers

How about trying an italic

frode frank — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:58:22 -0700

How about trying an italic A?

Depends on the size of the A

Stephen Coles — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:01:37 -0700

Depends on the size of the A and the style of the piece. For an A that large I would probably follow its right stroke.

Initial Drop Cap with Slant

nick — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:38:33 -0700

I am setting a paragraph in Minion with an 8-line drop cap that happens to be an A. There is a lot of space between the right slant of the A and the left margin of the copy. Should I wrap the text so that the text margin follows the slant of the A? Same question for W. This is a relatively formal/traditional piece. Does anyone have an opinion?

Thanks