A type of “handwriting” discovered by chance, extremely abstract On April 8, 1948 a certain Walter Plaga wrote a crude poem about a hero on a commemorative plaque. The very poor reproduction of the handwritten original, etched into a metal sheet, produced extremely abstract forms so that — even if unintentional — a script completely void of bowls was created. That which originally was the normal clumsy handwriting of a layman thus transformed into a pseudo-modern deconstructive typeface, which in the 21st century appears contemporary. The capital letters especially reflect the original: in part they show forms labeled incorrectly ”old German“ handwriting, which is actually Latin, in the letters A D G I J K L S V W X Z , whereas C H N O P R appear very modern. Truly a form of handwriting: without joining the letters, especially between the lower case characters, a silhouette effect is formed. To a great extent Hero is impressive due to its driven-to-the-limit abstraction and to a lesser extent by retaining an antiquated and nearly illegible effect.

Sets of Art Deco capitals shot full of holes for display effect by by J. Looney at VGC.

Heck Italic is based on captions, labels and legends appearing on 19th-century maps and natural history engravings by J. G. Heck.