storstilte

Storstilte is a typographic term used in Norwegian and Danish to describe the use of capital letters for text, commonly referred to as uppercase lettering. It is often applied to headings, titles, signage, or as a stylistic emphasis. In standard prose for Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, or Danish, normal text typically uses mixed case with sentence case rather than full capitalization.

Origins and usage: The concept stems from the historical distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters in Latin typography. Uppercase letters were the earliest form of type, with lowercase developing later; all-caps remained common for headlines, inscriptions, and certain design contexts. Today, storstilte is widely used in signage, posters, branding, and other design scenarios to convey immediacy or visual impact. In everyday writing, uppercase is usually reserved for acronyms, initialisms, or short stylistic touches rather than extended prose.

Orthography and readability: Prolonged use of full capitalization can hinder readability because word shapes become less distinctive and the reading rhythm slows. Many style guides therefore discourage long blocks of all-caps in body text, favoring sentence case, title case, or selective emphasis instead. When used in headings or logos, storstilte remains a common design device.

Digital typography: In computing, converting text to uppercase is a standard feature. Some designers opt for true small caps or mixed-case forms as alternatives to all-caps in headings to preserve legibility while retaining a bold visual presence.

See also: uppercase, capitalization, typography, typographic hierarchy.