Ampersand or Ampers&

I’ve been doing a little bit of research on ampersands (you know, the thing that means “and”) for a client project, and thought some of it may be blog worthy.

So a brief history of where the ampersand originated:
The ampersand is a combination of  the letters “e” and “t,” the Latin word for “and.” Some ampersands are still clearly e-t ligatures, and others are merely suggestive of e-t ligature. The earliest known ampersand is from 45 A.D. It was found on papyrus (the paper, not the unpleasant font) written in the style of the early Roman capital cursive.

Ampersand usage varies from language to language. In English and French text, the ampersand may be substituted for the words “and” and “et,” and both versions may be used in the same text. The German rule is to use the ampersand within formal or corporate titles made up of two separate names; according to present German composition rules, the ampersand may not be used in running text. In any language, the ampersand’s calligraphic qualities make it a compelling design element that can add visual appeal and personality to any page. Some consider the ampersand to be the most beautiful character of them all. You can read a ton more on Adobe’s website about the ampersand.

In my research, and through MyFonts twitter feed, I heard about a special collection of ampersands. The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA) is proud to announce their release of Coming Together, a font created exclusively for Font Aid IV to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The font consists entirely of ampersands, to represent the idea of people coming together to help one another. Type designers, graphic designers, and other artists from around the world contributed artwork to the font. The font is available for $20 from MyFonts. All proceeds from the sale of this font will go to Doctors Without Borders, to help with their relief efforts in Haiti.

It’s about time the ampersand mustache made a comeback.

On the lighter side of ampersands. Surprisingly, there are whole blogs dedicated to the ampersand. I found this one called simply The Ampersand. It has all things related to the beautiful ligature. I couldn’t resist sharing the “Spampersand” and the “Amperbunnies.” (For the record, I’ve never seen as many ampersand tattoos in my life, as there are on this blog.)

H&some.