By Bob Behounek
Posted on Sunday, September 26th, 2021
A few weeks ago I heard someone on the radio say it was National Ampersand Day. Really—a special day just in honor of those unique and creative squiggles that masquerade as ampersands! A design element, if you will, designated to link two words or letters together by standing in for the word “and.”
Some sign people find the ampersand to be a little frustrating or even awkward. But I found them to be a useful design element to fill in spaces, connect letters together, emphasize the importance between two words or letters in a creative way. Ampersands became close friends of mine.
Just when a layout on a sign, logo, race car or whatever that included the word “and” became boring, all that was needed was inserting a very cool ampersand! It might be a tall, thin one or maybe a wide swashy version. Or it could be inside its own uniquely colored panel or else just simply be in a different color.
Sometimes I figured out a way to incorporate an ampersand into the letterforms as well. This took some old-fashioned guts and of course a go-ahead from the client.
An ampersand doesn’t have to be the same letter style as the two letters or words it connects. Nor does it have to be the same size as them. It can be taller or shorter, more extended or more compressed. Likewise with color—the ampersand doesn’t have to be the same color as the two things it connects. Once again, we find that contrast is what makes a design interesting.
Throughout my sign painting career, one of the most valuable disciplines I have learned involved a pencil and paper instead of brush and paint. Yes, everything we did some 50 years ago started that way: Drawing letter forms long before we even picked up a brush. One of the most challenging and rewarding design practices was drawing creative ampersands. It’s a great way to stretch your creative muscles.
Back when every design began with a pencil sketch, you could custom design an ampersand for the task. Good news! You still can. It’s a great way to make an otherwise routine logo have a totally unique look.
I had a lot of fun gathering all my ampersands together then putting one of them to work in my time of need. Taking them to the absolute maximum and modifying them to fit into a given space and/or the actual logo was often the most satisfying part of a design. Once the project was complete, these ampersand buddies of mine often seemed to look back at me with a certain smirk on their stylized faces, knowing the extra interest they added to the layout.
Ampersands were a part of the sign business that kept me inspired for decades. Sign painters in our local sign circles always found ways to out ”ampersand” one another, sending these little fellows into an orbit that even NASA would be proud of!
As you scan these samples, I hope you can dive into this unique era of our industry and find new ways to get the most out of some of my closest friends, the Ampersands.
Bob Behounek has spent over 40 years as a sign artist and pinstriper in the Chicago, Illinois, area.
Great article on the ampersand – I have used it as well for many designs for signs, logos and power points. Love your designs.