3 the three ways of making letters

there are just three kinds of letters: written, drawn or “lettered”, and typographic. they follow from and are defined by their method of production: writing; drawing or “lettering” and all the methods by which typographic letters are generated. the complications behind this strict division, particularly in the second category, will be explained in what follows.
written letters can be used only during the process of writing itself: the moment of production and of use is one and the same. if i write some letters, make photocopies, then cut up and paste some of these letters together, then this process leaves writing behind, and becomes lettering. writing only happens when you make letters with your hand (or another part of your body) and when every significant part of the letter is made in one stroke. in writing, whole letters, even whole words, can be made in one stroke. this process of writing is not limited to pen and paper. you can write with a brush on stone, or with a stick in sand on the beach, or, if need be, with the tip of your nose in the whipped cream on your birthday cake. so this process of bodily making letters that consist of one stroke is called writing. please do not call it typography, just because it happens to use letters.
lettering takes a step beyond writing. when doing lettering you can always use drawn letters. these are letters whose significant parts are made of more than one stroke. the term “drawn letters” reminds us again of pen and paper. the scope of lettering is of course much greater than the letterforms one can draw on paper. it also takes in large neon letters on buildings. letters cut on gravestones are lettering too. it is impossible to cut the whole or the significant part of a letter with just one blow. but you can scratch a letter with one bodily movement, and then that has to be termed writing.
another great difference between lettering and writing is the fact that in writing there is no possibility of correction. one of the essential characteristics of lettering is the much sought-after possbility to reconsider and correct. lettering seems to have more in common with typography than writing does, because, in much lettering work, the letterforms look very much like printing types. but this is a false connection. lettering does indeed stand between writing and typography, but only because of the fact that you can move its letters around after they have been made. for example, lettering is all that you can do with rub-down letters, however “typographic” they may look. rub down the word “typography” from a sheet of helvetica letters and this still has nothing to do with typography. neither does it have anything to do with writing: the letters are drawn and not written. letters rubbed down to make words may, in skilful hands, look typographic: but the spacing and alignment is determined by hand, and this defines the process as lettering.
in typography, the composition of the word, as well as the making of the letters, is regulated by machine-fabrication. this is so even in the simplest case, of composing metal type by hand. the bodies of the types and the spaces ensure this dimension of machine-fabrication; as does the setting-stick, which works as an elementary machine. the system extends beyond the word: to the line, to the whole column or page of text. the size and position of appearing elements (i.e. visible when printed) can be exactly specified. this is done with a measuring system that is particular to that machine, or with a more generally used system. as the word “specified” indicates, this information can be given to someone else to carry out, and the process can be repeated exactly on another occasion. these two things are natural to typography, but are essentially impossible in writing and lettering.
writing, lettering and typography have in fact very little in common with each other, except that all three processes use the signs that we call letters. each process gives a certain visual character to its output. and the outputs of all three processes are constrained by the limits of the human perceptual system. of course, writing and lettering are also limited by the manual skills of the writer or letterer.
these three categories may not be absolutely separate from each other. the more experience you have, the more exceptions to the distinctions you will find. and a further fundamental distinction between typographic and other characters will be made in the next chapter. so an absolute or theological definition is not the point. but these definitions are meant as working guidelines, as a way of understanding essentials.
each of these mediums has its own circumstances and character, its own scope and limits, its own freedoms, its own history. all of these things should be understood and cared for. i think the three mediums should not be mixed: at least not in ignorance.

Es müsste mehr Gelegenheiten geben dem Bedürfnis vieler, zu schreiben, nachzukommen. Ohne Übertreibung: wenn man die Euphorie der Teilnehmer eines Kalligrafie-Workshops in elektrische Kraft transferieren würde, kämen ganz erstaunliche Wattzahlen zustande. Auch das ist eine Form erneuerbarer Ernergie … ;-)

@Thierry:
Schriften-Malerei und Kalligrafie und typografische Schriftgestaltung sind auch meiner Meinung nach verschiedene Dinge. Vor allem von ihrer ursprünglichen Funktion her gesehen.

In der Zeit vor dem Computer hat der Schilder/Schriftenmaler seine Erzeugnisse handwerklich, tatsächlich mit einem großen Anteil an Handarbeit, hergestellt. Heutzutage werden Computer und Schneidplotter oder LFP für die Schriftarbeit benutzt …

Kalligrafen haben sich schon immer auf ganz eigene Weise mir Schrift befasst, übrigens ist hiebei manchmal mehr Planung nötig als man denkt.

Schließlich der manigfaltige Umgang mit typografische Satzschriften, das Feld, auf dem sich wahrscheinlich die meisten Besucher dieses Blogs tummeln.

Jeder Bereich ist so spezifisch, dass man, erstmals damit konfrontiert, erstaunt sein kann und dann gibt es wieder so viele Querverbindungen, Bezugspunkte, Überlappungen, je nachdem in welchem Teil dieses, von Schrift geprägten Universums, man gerade segelt …

zusammenfassend: er sieht starke unterschiede zwischen den drei kategorien, und eine relativ klare einteilbarkeit.