Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes

by Colin Wheildon

With additional material by Geoffrey Heard and the original foreword by advertising guru the late David Ogilvy, this is a book for anyone who has a say in what appears in print and needs to know whether, as well as looking good, it will do its job by being read. Out of print for several years, this expanded and updated edition of the book is based on research carried out by the author in Sydney. Parts were first published in a brochure Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes by the Newspaper Advertising Bureau. It created a furor in the publishing and advertising industry because while it supports some old mores, it demolishes others. As David Ogilvy says in the "Hitherto designers have had to rely on their guesses as to what works best... all too often they guess wrong. Thanks to Colin Wheildon they no longer have to guess. No guesswork here. Only facts." Previously published as Type & How Typography and Design can Get Your Message Across or Get in the Way, by Strathmoor Press, Inc., Berkeley, California, USA. ISBN 0962489158

Genres: Design, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

Reviews

[Carol Worthington-Levy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The quintessential resource for creating stronger communications on paper and online, through the intelligent use of typography and reader gravity. I can say without hesitation that I've employed Mr.Wheildon's methodology for most of my career (I am now retired) and have had great success with the outcomes.

This book presents this science in a thoroughly enjoyable way, with interesting examples and reference to common sense that has oft been ignored in the world of advertising. Wheildon take this dry subject and turns it into something pretty compelling!

With what you learn from this book you can educate your designers and art directors by giving them a new standard to meet — making your communications more readable, easier to comprehend and ultimately more successful. No longer can a designer tell you they're designing your promotion to look 'cool', because 'your way' looks old-fashioned. This is stuff that's rarely taught in any design school or university.

This work by Wheildon, and the work of another guru in communication, the late Dr. Siegfried Vögele, confirm that this is more physiology than style. The rods and cones of the human eye have not changed since before the written word. They seek contrast and that makes for more legible typography and better reading for whomever you are communicating with.

[butterbook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is like the Elements of Style for typography and layout. A quick read, with helpful rules based on--wait for it--actual research! Covers such geeky topics as serif vs. sans serif and reading gravity. Complete with diagrams and snarky remarks. ecommended.

[Geanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives lots of scientific evidence for what type of print, design, and pictures work best in advertising.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to write an essay on Typography and this was just what I needed to get me off the ground. Very interesting and well researched.