Art In The Alphabet: What AI Cannot Give Us

Carl Shank • October 24, 2024

Art in the Alphabet:

What AI Cannot Give Us


I am a student of typographic history. In fact, I have pulled together a book on this history (Typography Through The Years: A Selected History) available from most booksellers. This book is filled with digitized fonts from earlier years, many not generally available in the open printing and typography trades. They represent hours of careful labor redrawing or copying the pen written works of earlier typographers, like Lewis F. Day (See his Alphabets Old and New, London, 1910 or earlier).


Does AI (artificial intelligence) help us or even substitute for us the work and beauty that goes into historic calligraphy and font histories? As with many people in many businesses and professions, I have used AI (especially ChatGPT and Claude) to access information files and reduce the time formerly spent in libraries or even online searches. That has been true even in my preaching and teaching as a theologian and retired pastor and consultant (See my extended BLOGs, “AI and the Ministry: The Uses and Abuses of Artificial Intelligence” and  “AI and the Brethren in Christ: Hallucinations & Corrections” in www.carlshankconsulting.com). 


Indeed, there are multiple copyright issues associated with AI generated feeds. In my BLOG on “Copyright Do’s and Don’t’s” Oct 23, 2023) I noted the following — “Right now, in the courts, there are lawsuits pending against big time AI players such as GitHub and Microsoft and Open AI seeking to see whether or not AI created materials are subject to copyright violations and piracy on a level not seen since the Napster violations in the 1990s. Getty Images have filed a suit against Stable Diffusion, an AI art developing tool, claiming that its images are too close to the real thing and thus violate copyright laws. This is far from "Fair Use" standards. The Clarkson Law Firm has two class action suits against OpenAI and Google claiming that AI "stole" copyrighted materials from their creators. Moreover, the U.S. Copyright office has ruled that AI cannot be considered an "author," since only a person can be an author.


Additionally, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/) has filed with the commission investigating AI and copyrights. They do not support any additional laws specifically targeting AI. They write — "Our high level view is that copyright law has been adapting to disruptive technologies since its earliest days and our existing copyright law is adequate to meet the disruptions of today. In particular, copyright’s flexible fair use provision deals well with the fact-specific nature of new technologies, and has already addressed earlier innovations in machine learning and text-and-data mining. So while Generative AI presents a host of policy challenges that may prompt different kinds of legislative reform, we do not see that new copyright laws are needed to respond to Generative AI today."


More courts and Congress will have to argue it out. Suffice it to say at this juncture, that using AI to re-create an illustration or an entire book may involve copyright breaches. Be careful in using the technology to bypass coded laws. There are still many pitfalls, however, and many ways AI cannot help us. There are many who would agree with me in this “short-cutting” our way to beautiful and usable fonts and faces. 


My recent foray into AI revealed the following about developing historic early fonts, say from a craftsman like Lewis F. Day, by ChatGPT —

“To create a typeface inspired by Lewis F. Day's decorative design style and the typography of sixteenth and seventeenth-century printing, we'd need to combine key elements from both sources.

1. Lewis F. Day's Influence:

  • Ornamentation: Lewis F. Day was known for his intricate decorative designs, inspired by Gothic and Renaissance motifs. His work often emphasized geometric and nature-inspired patterns.
  • Flourishes: Day's aesthetic would inspire flourishes around characters, especially in capital letters or title work, where borders or embellishments could be incorporated.
  • Symmetry and Balance: His designs usually kept a strong sense of order and symmetry, meaning that the typeface could integrate balanced, stylized serifs or carefully positioned decorations.

2. Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Printing Influences:

  • Old Style Serifs: Early printing typefaces like Garamond or Caslon, which were common in this period, feature elegant, moderate contrast between thick and thin strokes, and serifs with soft, rounded edges. These fonts have a warm and timeless feel.
  • Ligatures: In keeping with old typesetting practices, ligatures (like "fi", "fl", etc.) would be an essential feature.
  • Hand-Pressed Imperfections: The text could have slight irregularities to evoke the hand-pressed, metal-type printing look of that era, with slight ink spread or irregular edges on the characters.
  • Decorative Initials: Sixteenth and seventeenth-century printing often incorporated large, intricate drop capitals, which can be revisited with ornamentation similar to Lewis F. Day’s floral or geometric designs.

Key Elements for Typeface:

  • Character Design:
  • Incorporate Old Style serif structure with moderate contrast in stroke weights.
  • Slight ink spread effect for a hand-pressed look.
  • Ornamentation:
  • Incorporate Day's floral and geometric patterns as flourishes on capital letters.
  • Consider decorative borders on certain initials or for titles.
  • Ligatures & Swashes:
  • Use swashes on certain letterforms, especially for f, g, h, k, and long descenders.
  • Drop Caps:
  • Design large, decorative drop caps that feature intricate floral or scroll designs, combining Day’s Victorian influence with sixteenth-century engravings.

This typeface would feel both classic and ornamental, paying homage to the elegance of early print typography with the decorative touch that Lewis F. Day often brought to his work.”


While a sample of Day’s work in generalized pre-Victorian and Victorian era times can be previewed (badly, I would say) on AI (through Claude.ai, for instance), an actual typeface and its construction eludes AI, at least for now. First, the description above makes little sense unless I have been immersed in viewing Lewis F. Day's samples and history. And then, secondly, the descriptors are too vague and undefined. There is not merely one typestyle either in Victorian England or in Day's works.  Take a look at the uncials (alphabetic capitals) below for a wide variety of what AI has tried to describe.


The penned and hand drawn letters represented by Day and digitized by CARE Typography cannot be reproduced by AI, no matter how precise the tool. Moreover, accurate letter spacing and hinting and all the features that make up even a hand drawn font are not AI reproducible, nor in the range of AI generated feeds. And, to do so, would probably violate image-drawn copyrightable feeds.


Conclusions. What does all of this mean for the typographer or printer or publisher?

  1. Do the hard work! Type formation takes significant time and effort and drawing and re-drawing, tweaking until the letters and letter spacings and kerning and everything is right and readable. AI will not do such work for you.
  2. Seek permission for its use. This is always the best and most honorable course of action. You may have to contact the publisher, who then in turn may contact the writer. I did this for a study guide I wrote on a book from Oxford Press in England on the life and work of Jonathan Edwards, the great early American theologian in New England. While it was only a study guide with excerpts on which to comment, and for church study and use exclusively, the Press required a contractural engagement that lasted for one year with a limited number of copies that could be printed and made available, even for religious study and use. It would have cost me hundreds of dollars. I declined and went another route with some of the material.
  3. Use legitimate free sources for photos and images. I use dreamstime.com in their free portfolios for the background photos and images for a number of book covers I have crafted. There are other legitimate sources in iStock, for instance. Licensing uses and rules apply to most of these freebies. And give credit for where credit is due, even for the freebies. The Lewis F. Day’s Alphabets Old and New and its samples  are in the public domain now.
  4. Use your own work and photos. I know this requires substantial time and effort, but it is usually the right thing to do. I put together a historical calendar of the Lancaster PA area using photos I personally took.
  5. Use the old "buyer beware" adage here. Are you willing to risk your site being taken down, or getting a cease and desist letter, a bill or actually being sued through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which can be very, very costly. People actually make a living on book royalties and selling or licensing their work. Poaching their work for pleasure or profit is unacceptable. Extensis has an entire section on font use and licensing (www.extensis.com).


Conclusion #2. For all Christians and people of faith, we need to heed the apostle Paul’s admonition in the Bible that “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive.” (1 Corinthians 10:23) Yes, Paul is talking about Christian liberty and eating of food that was devoted to idols of his day, but the principle remains. What we CAN do is not always what we SHOULD do. This involves the use of AI in our churches and ministries.


Second, beware of the “Babel influence.” You do remember the construction of a tower built by early peoples to reach to heaven in Genesis 11 — “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Christopher Watkin notes in his massive study, Biblical Critical Theory: How The Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture, “rather than playing a role in God’s story (filling the earth and subduing it), these people want God to play a supporting role in their story, as the heavenly antagonist who is ultimately beholden to, or vanquished through, their heroic self-aggrandizement.” (208-9) This is sinful autonomy. This is humankind globalization of power and wealth and achievement. This is what AI could promise if misused and misapplied. We need to always see the inherent temptation in AI drawing us away from God and dependence on God.


Third, know the times and the promises and pitfalls of artificial intelligence. Get on ChatGPT 4 and Claude.ai and other AI tools. Find out how they work and can work for you. Use them biblically and intelligently and wisely. Be aware that your people are using AI all the time where they live and work, even if you don’t. In other words, be “smart” about AI and its growing use and influence — and keep the dependence on God strong and sure.


Sources

Lewis F. Day’s Alphabets Old and New, London, 1910 edition.

Sara Hawkins, “Copyright Fair Use and How It Works for Online Images,” https://bit.ly/3YyNMCW

Lucie Růžičková, "Ai and Copyright: The Legal Landscape," https://bit.ly/3Ao5zDw.

Gibble, Kraybill & Hess, Attorneys in Lancaster, PA, https://gkh.com/protecting-copyrights-vs-protecting-trademarks/



Successful Layout & Design

Type Trends 2026 Analysis

By Carl Shank • October 13, 2026
Type Trends 2026 Analysis Tiffany Wardle, The Type Founders copy and design service editor, has offered her perspectives on the state of type in 2026 (SEE https://bit.ly/4s5fgNV ) She offers the summary that “no single style has defined 2026.” She, instead, offers that “variety” is the defining feature of 2026 — “traditional and unconventional approaches, maximalism beside restraint, and pairings without an obvious connection that still suit their context.” She notes that familiar or bookish type is found in unexpected roles and scales, that “expressive type is paired with pragmatic type, and that character-rich typefaces used as logotypes with broader use of variable fonts for creativity and performance.” Instead of the traditional typeface advice of carefully selecting faces that harmonize with one another, and the classic sans-serif headlines with serif text, she notes that type in 2026 emphasizes contradiction — “Contradiction gives much current typography its appeal. A bold, mannered display face can sit beside a practical sans serif; the two need no obvious formal connection. Their contrast creates energy. These ideas are not new. Typography has always adapted and recombined earlier approaches for new purposes. What matters now is the particular mix—and the wide range of methods that can feel contemporary at once.” The age-old sage advice, that I posted in 2021, notes this about how to use and combine typefaces — "Robert Bringhurst wisely says — “The best type for a book about bicycle racing will be, first of all, an inherently good type. Second, it will be a good type for books, which is to say, a good type for comfortable long-distance reading. Third, it will be a type sympathetic to the theme. It will probably be lean, strong and swift; perhaps it will also be Italian. But it is unlikely to be carrying excess ornament or freight, and unlikely to be indulging in a masquerade.” ( The Elements of Typographic Style , 91). Jan White echoes this sentiment about choosing type in How To Spec Type — “There is no such thing as 'right' or 'correct' use of type. There is only vivid and eloquent effectiveness, or numbing and misleading ineffectiveness.” (10) Consequently, a math textbook will use a different typeface than a slogan on a can of soda or a bottle of wine. White suggests the following questions for the would-be use of a typeface in any context — [1] Does the way the type is handled in a specific circumstance fulfill its purpose? [2] Is it doing the job efficiently? [3] Is the message coming through clearly and vividly? is the message jumping off the page into the reader's mind crispy and memorably? (10) He goes on to say that “good typography is transparent, like blister-packaging — exposing the content inside and letting it speak for itself.” He agrees with Bringhurst about the use of type ornaments — “too often typography is used like gift wrapping, in the hope that cosmetic prettification will make the package seem more desirable.” (10) So then, “good typography links the verbal with the visual to produce arresting results. Good typography clarifies. It articulates. It elucidates. It expresses meaning.” (11) Many would-be editors and writers and office personnel try too hard when it comes to setting type. With the thousands of possible typefaces that are on the market today, produced by would-be typographers, playing with digital type producing programs, many people can get overwhelmed and confused and frustrated by what typeface to use.”(SEE my blog “How To Choose the Right Type for the Right Job,” March 29, 2021, www.caretypography.com ) This age-old and wise advice has been supplanted, I would suggest, by a post-modern theoretical, indeed theological, cast. Like Dutch De Stijl (See Reference ), or Dadaism (See Reference ), or Psychedelic (See Reference ) or Punk (See Reference ), or Grunge type (See Reference ), the cultural context of rebellion against any typography rules of readability and legibility and well-defined type go out the window in favor of whatever gives “energy” to an ad or a poster or a book that wins the day. Wardle goes on to say about 2026 type combinations — “Unexpected roles. Bookish, text-oriented, or familiar type appears at surprising scales or in applications not usually associated with it. Contrasting character. Maximalist or highly expressive type sits beside pragmatic type, with the overall composition mattering more than obvious stylistic harmony.” She says these contrasts “invite closer attention to the content and reasoning behind each choice.” Post-modernism rejects absolutes and what I would call “common-sense” order and structure. Everyone makes up their own rules, their own agendas, their own type combinations, ignoring centuries of time-tested typography. This is what “feeling contemporary” means. If I am correct, then the 2026 typeface choices and patterns will likewise disappear from regular use. Using what has been called display type for “normal” use betrays one of White’s criticisms — “too often typography is used like gift wrapping, in the hope that cosmetic prettification will make the package seem more desirable.” What is important is what is on the inside of the package, not the audacious gift wrapping.  I would imagine that Wardle would point to White’s other typography notes that say “good typography links the verbal with the visual to produce arresting results. Good typography clarifies. It articulates. It elucidates. It expresses meaning.” She might point out the “energy” aspect of 2026 type choices and combinations and maintain that they accomplish the same thing as White suggests. I am not at all sure about that. Some of Fonts In Use samples below are what Wardle highlights (SEE https://fontsinuse.com ). You make the judgment call.

Typeface Characteristics: Which Type Where?

By Carl Shank • September 9, 2026
Typeface characteristics are the visual and structural features that distinguish one typeface from another. They determine a typeface’s historical appearance, readability, personality, and appropriate use. Useful Ways to Analyze Any Typeface. When examining an unfamiliar typeface, ask these questions in order (provided by ChatGPT) — Does it have serifs? What kind of serifs? How much thick/thin contrast is present? What is the stress angle? What is the x-height? How wide or narrow are the letters? How are the counters constructed? What do the terminals look like? What are distinctive letters such as a, g, e, R, and Q doing? How does the typeface behave in a paragraph—open, dark, dense, airy, mechanical, or calligraphic? What historical or technological process does its construction suggest? What personality does the combination of these characteristics produce? There are a number of online sources to help identify typefaces ( See Feb. 6, 2022 Blog for more explanation and use.) Sources include — MyFonts ( www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont ), FontSquirrel ( www.fontsquirrel.com/matcherator ) WhtFontIs ( www.whatfontis.com ) Identifont ( www.identifont.com ) is one of the best. Here are the questions it will ask you — Does it have feet (serifs) or not (sans-serifs)? What style is the tail on uppercase Q? What style is the ampersand (the &)? Is the numeral “4” open or closed? What style of vertical line does the Dollar sign ($) have? How high is the center vertex of the uppercase M? Sit on the line or not? What type of bar does the uppercase G have? How far below the baseline does the uppercase J extend? What about the uppercase R? How far does the center bar extend? Is there a gap with the vertical part of the letter? Does it meet or cross the vertical? What about the question mark (?) What shape is the dot at the bottom? Is it circular, square, triangular, rectangular or even missing? The important point is that a typeface should not be identified by a single characteristic. Its identity comes from the interaction of serifs, contrast, stress, proportions, counters, terminals, spacing, and letterform construction.
Show More