This document provides guidance on lettering for architectural drawings. It discusses that lettering should be clear, legible, uniform in style and size to convey important details on a drawing. It describes single-stroke lettering as the recommended style, which involves vertical or inclined capital letters of uniform width and height. The document also provides tips on pencil grip, freehand lettering techniques, and recommended sizes for different types of text on drawings. Sample letters and numerals are shown to demonstrate proper form within guidelines.

1. L E C T U R E - I I I
LETTERING
ARCHITECTURE DRAWING

2. To understand the skill of writing in uniformity.
INTENT

3. CONTENT
Lettering
Different types of lettering
Assignment

4. WHAT IS LETTERING
Writing of titles, dimensions, notes and other
important particulars on a drawing is called lettering.
Important part of a drawing.
It should be clear, legible and uniform in its style.
It should be in plain and simple style so that it could
be done free hand and speedily.

5. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
Lettering is generally done in capital letters.
Different sizes of letters are used for different
purpose
The main titles are generally written in 6mm to 8mm
sizes.
Subtitles are written in 3mm to 5mm sizes.
The drawing number in the title box is written in

6. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
The width of majority of letters is equal to the height.
All letters should be uniform in shape, slope, size and
shading.
H or HB grade of pencil is recommended for lettering.
Lettering, except for the dimension figures, should be
underlined to make them more prominent.

7. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
TYPES OF LETTERING
Single stroke letters
Gothic letters

8. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
Single stroke letters:
 Bureau of Indian Standards recommends single
stroke lettering for use in drawings.
 These are the simplest form of letters.
 Single stroke means that the thickness of the line of
the letter should be such as is obtained in one stroke
of pencil.

9. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
Horizontal lines of letters should be drawn from left to
right and vertical lines ,from drawn from top to bottom.
Single stroke letters are of TWO types:
Vertical
Inclined

10. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
Pencil
Techniques
The best pencil for
lettering on most
surfaces are the H, and
HB grades.
Hold your pencil in the
position shown.
 It should make
approximately a 60o angle
with the paper.

11. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
Freehand Lettering
Developing good lettering is a personal skill which
takes practice.
Letters must be formed properly.
They must be open shaped and very legible.
Pull the pencil or pen across the paper.
All lettering strokes should be a pulling motion.
Press down hard when using a pencil.

12. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat

13. Architectural hand lettering is done in pencil, using
light "guidelines", and there are some important rules
to follow.
Good architectural lettering does not go above or
below the guidelines, and the letters are all uniform in
shape and size.
Good and bad examples are shown below:

14. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
Vertical capital letters are preferred for most technical
work.
They are formed within a grid.

15. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
Straight Line letters
Most letters are slightly narrower than they are
tall.
 The shapes of the letters are as open as possible.
Letters with small loops and crossing strokes are

16. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
This sequence is recommended to assure that
each letter is the correct width in relation in
height.
For example, form the two vertical sides of
the “H”, “N” and “M” first. Form the top of the
“T” first.

17. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
The “H” and “N” are slightly narrower than they are
tall.
The “T” andthe “M”are just as wide as
they are tall

18. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
Single Stroke Gothic Lettering
Procedure: STRAIGHT LETTERS & NUMERALS
Step-1 First draw two horizontal lines of any length at
the distance 10 mm apart from each other.
Step-2 Then draw vertical lines between the two
horizontal lines at distance 10 mm apart form each
other.

19. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat
Step-3 Then write down the Capital Alphabet letters
within each box in such a way that each letter of the
alphabet should touch the boundary of the respective
box only. Like in the same way write down full ABCD….
Step-4 As per the procedure described above write
down numerals from 1 to 0 in a new line.

21. Procedure: INCLINED LETTERS & NUMERALS
Step-1 First draw two horizontal lines of any length at the
distance 10 mm apart from each other.
Step-2 Then draw vertical lines between the two
horizontal lines such that each vertical line should be
inclined at an angle of 75° with the horizontal line & each
line should be at the distance of 10 mm apart from each

22. Step-3 Then write down the Capital Alphabet letters
within each box in such a way that each letter of the
alphabet should touch the boundary of the respective
box only. Like in the same way write down full ABCD….
Step-4 As per the procedure described above write
down numerals from 1 to 0 in a new line.

23. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat

24. ITEM SIZE h, mm
Drawing number in Title Block and letters denoting
Cutting Plane Section
10, 12
Title of Drawing 6, 8
Sub-titles and Headings 3, 4, 5, 6,
Notes, such as Legends, Schedules, Material list,
Dimensioning
3, 4, 5
Alteration, Enteries and Tolerances 2, 3
The recommended size of lettering is as under :-

25. How To Draw Graph For Lettering
The letters are drawn in a graph. Before drawing the
alphabets or numerals of 7:4, 5:4 or any other ratio, a
graph is needed.
First of all take the height of the lettering and draw two
parallel horizontal lines.
Draw the vertical line for making lines for making squares
and inclined line at an angle of 75′ for making graph for
inclined letters.

26. Ar. Hena Tiwari,GCAD,Sonipat

27. Single-Stroke Gothic
Lettering
Ve r t i c a l
C h a r a c t e r s
3_"2H H H4
I n c l i n e d
C h a r a c t e r s
1 2 3 3 2 24 11 11 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1
23
5 34 33 2
3
3 2222
R e c o m m e n d e d S t r o k e S e q u e n c e s
3 3 11 2 1 2 13 3 1 2 3 4
11 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 222
4
2 42 3 3
3
1 4
1
1 2 1 1 2 2 11 2 1 211 2 22 1 1
233 2
3 43 34 3 3
23