The art of the ampersand

Few elements of typography are as fun as the ampersand. It’s fun to look at, fun to draw and fun to say. It just makes me happy. Just as I tend to judge books by their covers (more on that in a future post), I often find myself judging fonts by their ampersands. Here are a few “ampersands with attitude” courtesy of Smashing Magazine.

From its humble beginnings as a typographic ligature, to a modern fascination resulting in a plethora of permutations as everything from bookends to baked goods, the ampersand is surely the fashionista of the type case. A quick spin around Google reveals an abundance of ampersand knickknacks, trinkets and tchotchkes celebrating the undulating strokes, meandering tails and assertive crossbars of the symbol in a wide range of fonts or handcrafted shapes. Here are a few I wouldn’t mind adding to my collection:

For me and my bookshelves

Getting cozy with some ampersands

I want this one for the wall of my office

Interesting book from The Ampersand Project

Another one from The Ampersand Project, this time with cookies

Awesome oversized ampersand

And if you just can’t get enough, bookmark this tumblr of ampersand fun!