FUNCTION

The ampersand (&) is a character used in titles, company, or brand names with combined words to replace “and.”

HISTORY

During the Middle Ages in Europe, books were mainly produced to distribute religious texts. For that reason, most texts were written in Latin, even after Gutenberg’s invention of metal-type printing in 1450. The letters e and t (for “et” meaning and in Latin) were used so often that punch-cutters combined the letters to create a single character et, first as a ligature and later as a character on its own.

DESIGN

The ampersand has many design possibilities. The & as we know today is only one out of many designs that have been created, experimented, and used since the introduction of the combination of the letters e and t of metal-type printing. Its top is often aligned with the uppercase and/or figures to give it enough space to be legible.

TYPOGRAPHIC RULES

The ampersand is mostly used as a decorative addition in titles or brands to represent the word “and” (or equivalent in other languages). It is better to use the word “and” in body-size texts.