Calligram vs Kufic
カリグラム / クーフィー体
Calligram comes from Lettering and Kufic from Calligraphic Traditions. One is technique and the other style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Calligram
Arranges words into the shape of what they say, so that reading and seeing happen in the same moment.
Kufic
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Keeps the uprights short and draws the horizontals long, massing letters of straight strokes and right angles into a band of even height.
| Calligram | Kufic | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | antiquity–modernism | 8th century onward |
| Family | Lettering | Calligraphic Traditions |
| Kind | Technique | Style |
| Cues | Text drawing a contour / Shifting reading direction / Meaningful blank space / Poem fused with figure | Horizontals drawn long / Short angular uprights / Letters turning at right angles / Lines massed into an even band |
| Best used for | Making a short poem or title physically felt · A symbolic image from letters alone | Cutting an inscription into a wall or a vessel as a band · Using the angular letterforms as figure, for titling and marks meant to be read from a distance |
| Type | One face or one hand, keeping the words continuous | Fix the ratio of upright to horizontal first, and turn every corner at a right angle |
| Composition | Convert the sentence into contour, path and density; mark where reading begins | Align the top and the foot of the line, space the uprights evenly, and run the letters as a band |
| Material | Letter and paper as two colors; the shape itself is the star | Cut into stone, brick and tile, and on parchment hold the stroke to an even weight with the reed pen |
| Caution | Don't fix a silhouette first and stuff words in. Let the text's rhythm generate the form. | Copying only the right angles while breaking the joins between letters leaves an ornamental band that no longer reads as a word. |