The typeface family TTKB Dik Temel Abece was developed as a part of a collaborative project between primary school teachers Davut Civelek, Derya Yılmaz Gündüz and Fatma Karafilik, along with Prof. Namık Kemal Sarıkavak from Hacettepe University, who served as a handwriting expert. It was developed in 2017, and adopted by the Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı, or Ministry of National Education (MEB) as a model to be taught in classrooms and for printing educational materials.
The project introduced “ball-and-stick” style letters for handwriting instruction in pursuit of a simplified structure that would reduce the learning load on students. In particular, there was an eagerness to produce letterforms that are similar to what is usually used on keycaps in common keyboards.
TTKB Dik Temel Abece is used for teaching in Grades 1 and 2, and contains no cursive component. It is a completely unadorned, sans serif with a geometric construction and consistent horizontal proportions. Lowercase letters have medium-length extenders and rounded stroke terminals, while uppercase letters have a high waist, which aligns with the x-height. Seen in B, E, F, G, H, P, R, and W, this feature allows students to use the guideline for the x-height in drawing these letters.
