Calligraphy fonts have undergone a colorful evolution through the entire centuries. Their development has been shaped by history itself.
Early writing was done on wood or stone, thus the fonts were angular. As man became more sophisticated and developed cities, the fonts also changed to own softer edges to adjust to the papyrus getting used. When Rome fell, academic centers were concentrated in Western Europe. Afterwards, the Dark Ages settled in; art and creativity appeared to have died, so did developments of calligraphy fonts. After the Dark Ages, with the rise regarding the Roman Catholic Church to power, the formal and elaborate font styles emerged. This font features the architectural designs associated with dark ages. These fonts are referred to as "Gothic." Until printing mechanism disrupted handcrafting of prints, Gothic was the favorite choice for fonts. When literacy was brought down seriously to the level of common townsfolk, the need for less complex fonts increased. This plea for practicality gave birth to informal Gothic variants used in manually printed publications and documents.
As printing became more readily available, hand-lettering was designated to artists. The rest of the population wrote in cursives due to their regular correspondences. Elaborate calligraphy, however, was still utilized for its decorative purpose in lot of formal documents--maps and invitations, for instance. The complex calligraphy carried with it a feeling of elegance and formality fitted to high-level affairs and audiences.
Types of the various calligraphy fonts are now housed in museums. But software programmers are finding ways to copy those font styles. If you are feeling just a little fancy, or while you are trying to find an element that will bring a little elegance to your formal invitation or correspondence, you may want to read the suppliers among these software packages. You will be bound to get just the right one for your needs.
