Towards a New Handwriting Adapted to the Ballpoint Pen

Abstract

Modern ballpoint and fibre pens are radically different in design and construction, and they can move with equal ease in all directions. The capacity for all-direction line movement fosters development of more convenient and efficient letter designs and combinations. After rejecting the typographic models and debased cursive designs used for formal writing in the past, the natural scribble of children is taken as a beginning point for all-direction cursive writing. By integrating such handwriting with the teaching of reading and other language arts, the habit of legible handwriting can easily flow into an adult hand characterized as fast, pleasurable, and flexible enough for individual expression. Certain historic hands, late roman cursive, gothic, and secretary, offer examples of contradictory rhythms that support the goal of all-direction writing movement. Specific new models are presented for modern writing but only as provisional designs. Experimental interpretations are encouraged; standard techniques for penhold are questioned in favor of new possibilities that reflect the all-direction approach to writing.