Although we live in a digital age, writing by hand is still woven throughout our daily lives. You might scribble down a grocery list, take notes in an office meeting, or write your next big idea on the back of a napkin. If you (or anybody else) can’t read your handwriting, it can be an annoyance at best, and a roadblock at worst! Working to improve your handwriting means working to be a better communicator. And to top it all off, taking handwritten notes is superior to typing for memory and learning.
Why Improve Your Handwriting?
We all know communication is key to a successful business, a
successful marriage, and of course, a successful life! People have a tough time
getting through the world when they can’t communicate well.
Ink Factory uses visuals as a stronger and more engaging
form of communication. But did you know that letters themselves are visuals
too?
If you aren’t creating legible letters, then you aren’t
doing it right! Legible (dare we say neat) handwriting is an awesome way to
improve the way you communicate with your co-workers – and even yourself! (Have
you ever been stumped by something you wrote on your calendar two weeks ago?)
And if you needed another reason to get off of your laptop
and write by hand more often, it’s proven to increase creativity and help
us learn.
The written word as we know it today stems from Pictography and
Logograms. Ancient people used abstracted visual pictures to communicate ideas
for trading goods, and those pictures later evolved to communicate sounds,
which were put together to form words.
So next time you are about to write a letter…draw it
instead!
The Best Ways to Improve Your Handwriting
When we train our new artists, we tell them to think about
“drawing” letters instead of writing them. That helps them to be more conscious
of the proper angles and shapes of each letter. But neat handwriting is more
complicated than you might expect! There are a couple of other guidelines we
have here at Ink Factory for achieving clean and legible handwriting.
No Ballpoint. Pens. Ever.
Ballpoint pens are banned at Ink Factory. Why? They create
extremely thin, faint lines, and require more pressure on the page than a
marker. When you’re writing for long periods of time, as fast as possible, you
want a pen that’s going to give you the least amount of friction. That means a
softer tip with more ink. We recommend a Paper Mate Flair pen for
writing on a small scale. Flairs can create various thicknesses depending on
the amount of pressure you apply to them, and they create a nice visible black
line.
Match the size of your tools to the size of your canvas
If you’re using an office pen on a flip chart, no one is
going to be able to read it. Make sure the thickness of your drawing tool is
visible on the surface you’re writing on.
Writing in all caps will quickly improve your handwriting
If you browse through our graphic recordings, you’ll notice
that 90% of the time we write in all capitals. That’s because capital letters
are all the same height, which gives a cleaner and more legible look.
Pay attention to spacing
Proper spacing is crucial to keeping your text legible. Spacing between each letter, each word, and each line of text keeps letters from running together. Writing slow and steady will help keep spacing consistent.