CALLIGRAPHY AND STEVE JOBS' INTUITION

Vahe H. Apelian

Some time ago I saw the movie “Steve Jobs”. As the title of the film indicates it was a depiction of his life. In a dramatic scene Steve Jobs fired one of their best programmers because he questioned the need to devote time and effort to have different fonts on the Apple computer when they were facing so many challenges to overcome. Steve Jobs attributed his appreciation of calligraphy when he attended a course or two in college and must have intuitively recognized its appeal and importance to consumers.  The movie scene was a dramatization of course but tt is well known that Steve Jobs emphasized the aesthetics of the product, along its functionality, way back when they launched Apple Computers.  In his interviews he said he aimed in making the product an extension of the person. Nowadays, there is a whole list of fonts on an Apple computer including many different Armenian fonts.

Steve Job’s intuition about the importance of calligraphy reminded me of my mother’s Armenian typewriter and her appreciation of calligraphy.

Decades ago, my mother purchased an Armenian font manual typewriter. It was not an on the spur of the moment purchase. An Armenian font manual typewriter was fabricated upon request. It was an expensive proposition, especially for a teacher in Armenian schools. She spent almost a year saving from her salary towards her acquisition of an Armenian manual typewriter.

I remember her spending a considerable amount of time teaching herself typing on the manual typewriter. In the end, I doubt that she typed a single letter on the typewriter simply because she did not like the fonts.

Some time ago I found in her papers a type written report by the late Rev. Aram Hadidian about the founding of the onetime Sin El Fil Armenian Evangelical School (see ԵՐԲԵՄՆԻ ՍԻՆ-ԷԼ-ՖԻԼԻ ՀԱՅ ԱՒԵՏԱՐԱՆԱԿԱՆ ՎԱՐԺԱՐԱՆԻՆ ՊԱՏՄԱԿԱՆԸ, August 8, 2017), The fonts indeed look very dull. There is no appeal to them whatsoever. It becomes evident the manual typewriter was made to be functional and that’s all.  The technology or the mindset may not have been there at the time to consider having more appealing fonts along with  functionality.

From that point on she resorted to her customary hand wiring. When the computers became more accessible, my mother was too much set in her ways to ever consider learning word processing, which in fact can be regarded as a modern-day typewriter. She continued resorting to the only way she knew, handwriting. The thought of sitting in front of a computer  terrified her.  

My mother left behind hundreds of beautifully handwritten pages. On unlined blank sheets of paper, she wrote neatly and on a straight line; line after line, pages after pages. She had a beautiful handwriting. At least, I know of no other whose natural effortless Armenian handwriting is as beautiful as hers was. She was also endowed with an uncanny ability for committing poems by heart much like a recording. She loved Armenian poetry and had a habit of writing them down for her enjoyment. She also loved and prepared group recitations, Khmpayin Asmoung in Armenian, for her students to recite. Such group recitations were, as I am not sure if they still are, time-honored traditions at the graduation ceremonies from Armenian schools. I reproduced some of the handwritten group recitation she had prepared in  a book.  I invite interested readers to read my blog titled “Tribute To An Art: Khmpaying Asmoung”.(see Tribute To An Art: Khmpayin Asmoungner, see August 27, 2017).

Although she did not use her Armenian font manual typewriter,  she kept it. I imagine that she maintained a sentimental attachment to it for, years ago, she had it shipped to me, in the U.S. I donated it to the Armenian Library and Museum of America. The original ribbon was still on it. I typed a line on a page indicating that this typewriter is being gifted to the museum and had the manual typewriter shipped there.

Armenian Font Manual Typewriter