You've probably been writing the letter 'g' wrong for years

At first glance, there's nothing particularly unusual about the letter 'g' – you've read it millions of times, and would have no problem writing it from memory, right? There are two standard ways of writing a lowercase 'g', and as a recent study has revealed, hardly anyone is able to spot one version in a lineup, let alone write it down.

Most of us are probably used to writing the open tail version (below), but there's also a looped tail version that's more often found in print and digital text. And that's the one that Jon Hopkins University has discovered (in its ingeniously titled study, The Devil is in the g-tails) that only one in 38 people can draw. The other 37 would do well to check out our typography tutorials.

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Daniel John
Design Editor

Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles.

Latest in Fonts & Typography
Monotype quiz
What's your type? Take this font quiz to find your soulmate
image of the two co-founders of Colophon
"The type industry is at a crossroads", says Anthony Sheret
Monotype trends report 2024
Monotype reveals the hottest typography trends of 2024
Tesla Model S
Yes, Tesla really just recalled all of its cars over a font
Fonts interacting
Viral TikTok video hilariously imagines fonts hanging out
Wonka logo
'Seeing the responses has been really uplifting': How we made the Wonka movie typography
Latest in News
DC Sonic the Hedgehog comic collaboration
Sega reveals first glimpse of the Sonic DC collaboration we never knew we needed
Tesla Cybertruck
Another day, another Tesla Cybertruck design fail
Dove ad
Dove's new campaign wants to break you out of the selfie cycle
Crayola crayons eight colours
Crayola's nostalgic limited edition packs bring back 'lost' colours retired since 1990 – plus a Million Crayon Giveaway
Jaguar Type 00 in French ultramarine at Paris Fashion Week
The Jaguar rebrand has finally won me over after the Type 00 stole the show at Paris Fashion Week
A close up photo of the new ASUS ProArt 8K monitor.
ASUS just revealed the first-ever 8K Mini LED monitor (but I think you should buy this 4K one instead)