Ampersand

Known to most as the and sign, this is one of the wonders of typography. When I set about creating the ampersand for Jonkera (which is a terrible name for the Futura-like small caps font I created), I went to the source to figure out just what I was doing with it.

Ampersand

The word ampersand is from "and per se and," which means "and by itself and." It originated with a ligature of Et (latin: and) in the first century with the Romans. As a lover of Latin, this is the source I decided to recall when making my ampersand. Below are three prototypes I created. The rightmost one is an ultra-modern version. The center one falls in line with most modern typefaces while still utilizing Jonkera geometrics. The leftmost one I feel is best adapted for Jonkera as a smallcap font, utilizing the lower case sized T and half of the numeral eight.