'Masculine' Handwritten & Calligraphy Fonts

[CalligrapherSt92]

I thought this would be a good topic, as the font market is saturated with handwritten/calligraphy fonts that are associated with women's fashion and wedding invitations. As an example I would use Oriole Bird (which itself is tagged 'feminine headline'): Oriole Bird Font

But what fonts would you use for a 'masculine' version?

[Ralf Herrmann]

The label masculine would usually apply to fonts outside of the handwritten category, as it’s the category itself that is connected to the label “feminine”. For example, fonts from this font list, could count as examples of fonts where the label “masculine” could apply. 

[CalligrapherSt92]

There are a few fonts which are tagged 'Fountain Pen' - such as Lamar Pen which I would describe as a more 'masculine' handwritten font. Or at least, such a font wouldn't look out-of-place as a 'signature' or 'quote' on graphic design directed to a male audience. I'm sure there are more fonts beside this though.

[Riccardo Sartori]

Premising that using gendered adjectives to describe typefaces isn’t often helpful (scroll down), Sudtipos has many of its script typefaces named with suffixes like Miss, Mrs. or Mr., to suggest association to one specific gender. See also Business Penmanship.

More handwritten than script, Mark Simonson has both Felt Tip Roman and Felt Tip Woman, again presumably suggesting more “masculine” characteristics in the first of the two (is then Felt Tip Senior gender-neutral? Apparently not).

[Riccardo Sartori]

And, of course, there are typefaces based on the handwriting of men, contemporary or historical. 

A very limited sample: Suomi Hand, Rollerscript, Mister K., Harald Geisler’s work (Martin Luther, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King), Pushkin, etc.

[Greg Yerbury]

I think gendering typefaces is a little odd but there is no escape from the fact it is done.

[CalligrapherSt92]

1 hour ago, Greg Yerbury said:

I think gendering typefaces is a little odd but there is no escape from the fact it is done.

Leaving cultural and marketing forces aside, it's quite interesting to note there have been biomechanical studies on handwriting in terms of deducing biological sex (such as discussed in this article). A striking example of how humans are hard-wired to deduce this from an abstracted range of motion is demonstrated by the dot walking generator.

[Riccardo Sartori]

On 10/5/2021 at 1:03 AM, ReflexBlueHorror said:

there have been biomechanical studies on handwriting in terms of deducing biological sex

I suspect they have been conducted to validate graphology as a forensic science.

[CalligrapherSt92]

1 hour ago, Riccardo Sartori said:

conducted to validate graphology as a forensic science

Graphology was always something I thought I'd be interested in, but I swiftly realised it was a noooo.

Veering off the topic of masculine type... When I first searched for biomechanics and lettering, I found the knowledge I was ultimately after, by looking into how courts determine that documents are forged or an author has attempted to disguise their natural hand. Ron Morris's "Forensic Handwriting Identification" was one of those few books that 'opened my eyes', I'd definitely recommend it and the subject is a world apart from graphology.

[R::bert]

👉🏻 https://www.briefcasetype.com/blog/eric-machat-or-the-rebirth-of-gill-sans