ABSTRACT
Most of the formal teaching people receive about the visual organisation of written language takes place in schools, mainly in relation to handwriting. What children learn about the visual organisation of writing at school is likely to be a powerful influence on the typographic decisions they make later in life. This chapter focuses on prescriptions for organising handwritten text because this remains the main way that children produce 'readable' language. It mainly draws on examples from the UK, though some reference is made to practices in northern Europe and the USA which show that there is variation both in the practice and use of conventions from country to country. Handwriting teaching is more concerned with the teaching of letter shapes than with visual organisation. The chapter concerns messages in the form of notices, posters and signs, what designers call 'display typography', as well as with leaflets and newspapers of a public kind.
