Liga-WHAT? What the heck are these funny little characters and where did they come from? I’ve gathered up some brief history and lovely examples of ligatures in use!
*Please pardon the un-styled mess why I am rethinking and re-designing my blog!*
Liga-WHAT? What the heck are these funny little characters and where did they come from? I’ve gathered up some brief history and lovely examples of ligatures in use!
In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes are joined as a single glyph. Ligatures usually replace consecutive characters sharing common components, and are part of a more general class of glyphs called “contextual forms” where the specific shape of a letter depends on context such as surrounding letters or proximity to the end of a line.
Well, it all boils down to this: a long time ago (think: midevil times) ligatures were used to save space and increase writing speed. Scribes were scribblin as fast as they could and paper was expensive thus the typographic invention! After the printing press was invented ligatures were widely popular, until the Mr. Sans Serif came onto the scene with all his streamlined non-serifness.
Ligatures are a way to fix what kerning can’t do. You know those awkward spaces that happen with every font (especially the FL and FI combinations).
Go ahead…select the text below…ligatures as web test – who knew?
The lost ligatures of Avant Garde
Mrs Eaves has some beautiful ligatures as well.
This guy is committed to this ligature…for life… WTF!!! 
Oh Garamond, such a sexy font with sexy ligatures.
Apple also has a thing for ligatures, check out the lovely ffl combo!
Nice ST combo on this post logo.
Not sure what country this is from – any help?
Mmmm great beer and ligatures, good combination no?
Not a ligature that you see to often, but damn this zy combo is nice!
Nice little ss combo, almost a monogram.
Letterpress + ligatures of the CT variety = a match made in heaven!
Some of these may not be ligatures, but they are still great letter combination
Is it just me or do non-english languages have more beautiful ligatures? This ir combination is lovely!
source
An interesting BH combination!
An interesting thread on Typophile on the creation of new ligatures and symbols for internet speal (lol wtf brb etc)
Our Friend the Ligature – a brief overview of the history of the ligature
Leave a comment and let me know what your fav ligature is. Post a link to an image and ill include it in this post!
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[24] Comments
Posted in design, Graphic Design, type, Web Design
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Eric Granata says:
I have been using this ligature as my personal brand for the past few years. The first version of it used Helvetica, this version is based on Eurostile, seen here: http://www.ericgranata.com/Websites/ericgranata/WebsiteLogo.gif
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:19 am
irishmark says:
the post photo is from Ireland
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:38 am
Steph Adamo says:
I love this post. I miss your found-collections. Also, when i probably change my last name in a year-and-a-half or so, it’ll have a nice ligature in it.
How nerdy is that, that i’ve already figured that out??
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:46 am
Jesse says:
Lovely post! I adore the Avant Garde ligatures!
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:17 am
Kate Nickerson says:
I love your post! Ligatures fascinate me and I enjoy seeing them in my daily life. They’re so cool-looking and make words a little more legible. I’ve never seen the ligatures for Avant Garde and they are amazing!
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Stuart Thursby says:
Heck, I even used a ligature as my personal logomark! Check it out – http://www.sthursby.com
Stand-alone image – http://www.sthursby.com/work/logo.jpg
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:51 am
Rhonda Michelle says:
Oh man oh man – I so love ligs. Mrs. Eaves is 1 of my faves – thanks for the great post on type that makes me swoon.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Sarah says:
These are really great! I love Mrs. Eaves more and more every time I use it.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Rick Quarton says:
fascinating and creative. All this time I thought ‘ligature’ had something to do with my daughter’s clarinet.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Lilian says:
My favourite by far, and one I use daily in my own writing, is a variation of the ampersand. Aesthetically, it links much more clearly to the original word ‘et’, meaning ‘and’.
It’s nothing fancy though, just a backwards 3 (or curvy ‘E’) with a line drawn vertically through the middle (acting as a lower and uppercase ‘T’)
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:21 pm
freddygirl says:
oh I just got to do a ligatured logo for a client and was as happy as a pig in, well, the proverbial…
lovely post!
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Kevin O'Mara says:
The picture of the WTF ligature on the wrist is mine, and I can assure you it’s not a real tattoo. I’m not that crazy.
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Kristin says:
Nice round up of ligature types.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Ryan says:
Great post. I would have to say that Mrs Eaves was one of my favorite type families… and Base Nine and Twelve. I think I had a thing for Emigre when I was in college.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Jasper says:
I love the ligature. Got this awesome one from calibri:
http://echohelloworld.com/lib/img/ehw.png
February 26th, 2009 at 3:33 am
Andrew says:
Awesome!
I do believe I’m experiencing some ligature ecstasy. pure bliss.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Gianmarco says:
Here’s a lovely fi ligature I just found in my kitchen:
http://img.skitch.com/20090416-d2nfr8reynpsejnf1b89scbiw7.jpg
April 16th, 2009 at 3:07 am
BeenThere says:
Some of them really remind of the Armenian alphabet. Especially the very first image.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_alphabet
May 14th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Ligature Designs, LLC says:
Thanks for the post. I love the product/building images. My logo and favicon are, or course, ligatures. I love the simplicity of “perfectbound” but “wir” and “frobishers” are probably my favorites (and who could not like Mrs Eaves).
-Gary
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:20 am
suzannelong says:
Indeed it is, as I took the photo
November 8th, 2009 at 7:54 am
suzannelong says:
Indeed it is. I took it in Dublin a few years back.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:56 am