The Danish letters

The talk will focus on Danish type designers and their work on Æ (AE), Ø (Oslash) and Å (Aring). These 'anomalies' found in the Danish written language, often causes difficulties for type designers. The counters of Ø/ø sometimes appear overcrowded, the uppercase Æ can result in an uncomfortably open space when following another character, and the free-floating ring of the letter Å/å, which in 1948 was introduced in Denmark as a replacement of AA/aa, will in some cases interrupt the horizontal movement of a typeface when set in running text. Through various examples of Danish type designers' attempt to create the optimal variation of these letters, we will give a brief introduction to the Danish typography tradition ranging from the early 20th Century and up until today.