THE NON-DESIGNER'S TYPE BOOK

Examples of initial caps

There is a wonderful variety of ways to use initial caps. Here are several
examples, which I hope will inspire you to play and create even greater and
more interesting ways to use them.

ometimes the seas are calm,
and that's wonderful.
¡Sometimes the seas are not calm,
anil that's the way it is.

¡abbi Nathan Seagull

Typeface is Bodoni
Poster Compressed.

In PageMaker, I set the letter "0 " in
a text block of its own, then selected

it with the pointer tool and grouped

it (yes, I grouped it by itself). Then

I was able to wrap the text wrap

around it. Typeface is Schmelvetica.

time, strength, cash, and patience!

I Small erections may be finished by
I their first architects; grand ones,
true ones, ever leave the copestone
i posterity. God keep me from ever
completing anything. Herman Melville, Moby Dick

I set the "W" separately

from the text. I moved the

text over using hard spaces

(em, en, and thin spaces).

Typefaces are Belwe

Condensed and Light.

w

hen I'm in a good space, I see obstructions
as instructions. When I am in a bad space,
even instructions look libe obstructions.

Norm Howe

n the midst of all the doubts which we have discussed
for four thousand years in four thousand ways, the safest
course is still to do nothing against one's conscience.

Volt*.

Typefaces are Printers Ornaments M for
the decorative block, ExPonto Multiple
Master for the cap "I" and byline, and
Decon Struct Medium for the body copy.

24: INITIAL CAPS

etters sometimes give ear to a
disturbing tremor which seismically
runs the gamut of the entire alpha¬
bet. They are plagued by the las¬
civious laughter of the old satyrs
of the woods and the painful cries
of the dying. In the valleys of rich
abundance and in their dwelling
house, the atmosphere seems to
them suffocatingly oppressive.

ne unforgettable night they quit
with light abandon the heavy
encumbrance of words to seek the
wordless heights where the air is
purer and the horizon infinite.
They have been freed by the whim
of a capricious god. The great
silence of the heights feels like a
soothing caress across the feverish

brow... they have reached the
top of the mountain and fulfilled
the longing of a lifetime.

U ut, should they remain there
until the dawn streaks the sky,
they will be torn to pieces by
the wolf of abstractions. In a
frightened, concerted mass, they
rush down the slopes, bleating
miserably. Only when they reach
the sanctuary of the pen do they
feel happy and secure.

J' ne of them, however, stands
with its nose pressed between the
bars of the closed gate; it is the
O, longing to return to the
mountain heights.

O/ofLugercranlz.

Notice I kerned the cap "T" out

to the left a little so its stem

aligned with the cap "I" in the

next line. Typeface is Bernhard

Bold Condensed.

I

If the text is rather
playful, experiment
with lots of initial
caps. Experiment
with pale colors or
tints, and don't let
them overwhelm the
body copy. Try letting
the pale initial caps
slide under the text
above them, as on
page 151. Typefaces
are Eurostile Bold
Condensed and
Caslon Regular.

ahe и as U comes.
H il doesn't come, ¿o gei ií.
If you cani gei H, create if.

he ditches were rushing rivers,
t he ponds were full, t he eart h was
already t urning green, t he swish of
the rain upon the trees was terrific; but
deafening, drowning all other noises
'was the ecstatic chorus of millions
of frogs from every ditch and pond and field
and compound, a wild, mad, maddening,
corybanlic, croaking and creaking orgasm
of sound of wet, wallowing frogs.

Leonard Woolf

Typefaces are

Fantasia Initial

Caps for the cap "T"

(which is actually

an EPS file) and

Dirty One for the

body copy.