JAN KEES KARELSE
1955, NL
'Ironieteken / _Irony mark'
_TRANSLATION:
Balkenende is a charismatic prime minister
I would like to seize the opportunity to introduce two new characters in Dutch typography: the question mark at the beginning of the sentence, as is common in Spanish, and the irony mark.
The question mark at the beginning of a sentence
A mark to indicate that the following phrase is an interrogative sentence. This will save you the effort of having to reread the sentence many times. Normally, you don't know whether a sentence is interrogative or not until you reach its end. The Spaniards solved this, by placing an inverted question mark at the beginning of the sentence. I propose to follow the Spaniard's good example.
¿Do I mean it?
You don't know. It's unlikely, but I might really be of the opinion that Balkenende is charismatic. Typography is not equipped to reflect physical expression or verbal pitch which might indicate that, on the contrary, Balkenende lacks every kind of charism. The lack of an irony mark unnecessarily restricts authors in their freedom of expression. A simple sign at the beginning and end of a phrase or word can show, that the reader is allowed to doubt the given statement. The irony mark prevents misunderstandings and enriches the written language. I hereby provide an example of how such a sign might look like. I leave the period as it is. The period is finished.
BIJSCHRIFT: Het font van Jan Kees heeft geen naam, want het is een optie voor een nieuw leesteken, wat voor ieder font gebruikt kan worden.
_NOTE: Jan Kees' font doesn't have a name, because it's an option for a new punctuation mark, that can be applied by every font.
OVER JAN KEES KARELSE: Karelse & den Besten is een multidisciplinair ontwerpbureau gevestigd in Rotterdam. Het in 1984 door Jan Kees Karelse en John den Besten opgerichte bureau werkt voor diverse commerciële, culturele en non-profit opdrachtgevers uit binnen- en buitenland. Voor deze opdrachtgevers werkt Karelse & den Besten in verschillende media (print, illustratie, internet, videographics en 3D toepassingen). Het werk van Karelse & den Besten kenmerkt zich door een conceptmatige aanpak van de communicatie-doelstellingen.
_ABOUT JAN KEES KARELSE: Karelse & den Besten is a multidisciplinary designers firm established in Rotterdam. The firm, founded in 1984 by Jan Kees Karelse en John den Besten, works for several commercial, cultural and non-profit clients from home and abroad. For these customers Karelse & den Besten works with different media (print, illustration, internet, videographics and 3D applications). The work of Karelse & den Besten is characterized by a conceptual approach of the communication objectives.
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