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phyllisj9
phyllisj9
Inspiring
June 6, 2009
Question

Accents on Capital Letters?

  • June 6, 2009
  • 4 replies
  • 15932 views

Hi,

Are you supposed to use accent marks on capital letters?  I'm creating a design (for a graphic-design class) about the painter Salvador Dali (the Ii in his last name has an accent mark on it).  I'm going to use the name DALI in all-caps.  I'm not sure if the accent is used in all caps.  Does anyone know?

Thanks, Phyllis

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    4 replies

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 7, 2009

    Phyllis,

    What about shortening the I to make the accent mark fit, using your creative freedom?

    phyllisj9
    phyllisj9Author
    Inspiring
    June 7, 2009

    Hey!  Tried that too, but it always seemed a little "off" somehow.  Had the best results with scaling the accent mark.  I don't think it looks too odd.  And I sort of liked the smaller type after I got used to it (had to make a little smaller even with the scaling).  I guess this is a good workout on typography...  :-)

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 6, 2009

    You are welcome, Phyllis.

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 6, 2009

    Phyllis,

    Are you supposed to use accent marks on capital letters?

    Certainly. You might consider capitals and small capitals instead of all capitals as a subtler way to make the name stand out.

    phyllisj9
    phyllisj9Author
    Inspiring
    June 6, 2009

    Thanks!!!  I thought I'd read years ago that you didn't use them in all-caps for some reason.  But if that were true, why would there be any?  I don't know where I got that.

    Good suggestion on the small-caps.  The accent-mark is making my I too tall, so maybe I'll try that.

    Thanks!

    Phyllis

    phyllisj9
    phyllisj9Author
    Inspiring
    June 6, 2009

    Actually, now I'm going through a book on Dali.  I'm noticing that the accent mark only appears on lower-case mentions (when it's all-caps or small-caps, the mark is left off).  Do you suppose it's optional?

    Thanks, Phyllis

    phyllisj9
    phyllisj9Author
    Inspiring
    June 6, 2009

    (I meant i in his last name, not li -- typing too fast)

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