Ampersand

The ampersand symbol serves as my personal logo. The ampersand (also called epershand) dates from Roman times and is formed from the characters in the Latin word “et,” meaning “and” or concatenation. The character has many forms depending on the font. In the GrHelvetica font I am using for running text in this blog, the character has the most common simplified form of “&”.

The particular letterform I have adopted as my logo is from the Edwardian Script ITC font. I have chosen it, first, because it is beautiful in its own right as a visual object. But there is more to it than that. WIthout regard to its literal meaning, it suggests to me the treble clef sign in music and--a little more subtly--the wrap of a French horn, both associations being particularly meaningful to me.

There is still more. The literal additive meaning of the symbol, even in its less decorative and allusionistic form, represents my many interests and involvements, as my website and blog demonstrate. The Edwardian Script form of the character perfectly captures this sense of inclusion and integration--of embrace, if you will--an optimistic interpretation, perhaps, of the diversity in my curriculum vitae. I think also that the complexity and busy-ness of the figure suggest correlates in my life experience as well.

Taking the ampersand to suggest variety and collectivity is certainly not original. Any number of businesses have latched onto it in their names. Lately I have been chagrined to see its use in a TV commercial on the theme of “The Land of And.” But I don’t mind if it serves to animate this symbol in popular culture. It’s a fine and useful character.

Adobe’s explanation of the ampersand character can be found at www.adobe.com/type/topics/theampersand.html