Ítalíuskrift is a series of books for handwriting instruction conceived and developed by designer and educator duo Gunnlaugur S.E. Briem and Freyja Bergsveinsdóttir in 2011, and published in 2013 by the Menntamálastofnun, or the Directorate of Education, in Iceland.
The books envision an approach to teaching handwriting using modern cursive, where students are not taught print style letters, and are directly introduced to letters that can be joined.
Sample pages of Ítalíuskrift workbooks series (1A–4A), from Freyja Bergsveinsdóttir and Gunnlaugur S.E. Briem. Menntamálastofnun, 2011.
The letterforms in Ítalíuskrift, designed by Briem, are slightly slanted and inspired by the Renaissance italic chancery styles proposed by Ludovico degli Arrighi (1475–1527) in his calligraphy manual La Operina (1522). The foundational forms of the letters are triangular, and are based on the formation of zigzag strokes that Briem calls “crow’s way”. The lowercase letters have tall x-heights and short extenders. They are shown in two forms: unconnected with exit strokes, and connected.
