The revival began with a hands-on exploration of the Historic Press Lab's archive, where I selected a hand-carved specimen of Perpetua for documentation. Using my phones camera, I captured photographs of each available letterform from the physical source. I examined the specimen’s structural details—such as the vertical stress, triangular wedge serifs, stroke contrast, and curved terminals—to understand its typographic DNA.

Following documentation, I entered a rigorous hand sketching phase. Across several rounds of drawing, I studied and reconstructed each glyph to identify core stylistic features, subtle inconsistencies, and recurring visual motifs. This analog process helped build a deep understanding of the letterforms' proportions and rhythm—insight that would be crucial for the digital phase.