Cursive reveals the imperfections of our penmanship and reminds us that we are human, emotional, and real.Yet the forces that connect and propel us forward, also threaten a part of our cultural, aesthetic, and creative DNA.Today, we are faced with the dire reality that we might be the last generation to read and employ cursive writing in our visual designs.
Across America, school administrators are removing cursive writing from their curriculums. The decision makers wrongly believe cursive is an outdated system of communication, whose value ceases to exist in a digital society. They argue that teaching keyboarding, which is undeniably important, precludes a teachers ability to teach cursive as well. Understandably, this has sparked a heated debate among parents, educators, historians, sociologists, and even neuroscientists. Amid this debate, there has been little heard from the design community, despite the fact that, if realized, the outcome will forever alter our landscape. Virtual set vmix downloadThis post is about why cursive matters to you, fellow designers, and why your voice needs to be heard. My wish is to give you a design perspective on the value of cursive and to have you ponder a world without it. Generation Z The cursive debate has been around for years, but was thrust into the national spotlight during the recent George Zimmerman trial. Here, the prosecutions star witness, who was 19 at the time, testified that she could not read cursive. This notion that a high school senior in 2013 could not read let alone write cursive was bewildering to anyone who could. To many, cursive literacy is taken for granted to the extent that we might assume ones ability to use a QWERTY keyboard. Cursive writing may not be as visible in our lives and society as it once was, but its contribution to how we think and interpret the world is omnipresent. If successive generations abandon cursive, how will that change the way we think about and interpret design The Wellspring Cursive advocates frequently cite the U.S. Constitution as a document that will be lost to future generations. This is an easily recognizable example of why cursive is important. Personally, I dont know many people who have actually read the Constitution in its original cursive script. We typically see a thumbnail of the original and then read it in print. The logical extension to this example is that future generations will not be able to read or appreciate other, less famous historical artifacts. This is a concern for those designers who thrive on knowledge and research. They will inhibit their creative inspiration through their inability to understand primary source materials. The Human Connection Cursive typography adds voice to our designs that is timeless and historic, but also intimate, formal, and sophisticated. Today, many sympathy, thank-you, and holiday cards are written using cursive because it connotes a personal connection. It invokes centuries of correspondences written with an ink-tipped quill and concentration under the light of an oil lamp.
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