Typography Sketchbooks

by Steven Heller (Editor), Lita Talarico (Editor)

Typography is an obsession for most designers. It's at the heart of all visual communication and is one of the purest forms of design, one that can always be improved and refined. Typography Sketchbooks gets into the minds of designers who create typefaces, word images and logos through their private sketchbooks. The result of these wide-ranging typographic musings provide fascinating insights into the expressive quality of letters and words. Aimed at all those who use type, whether by hand or on-screen, this pleasing compendium stresses the importance of good typography at a time when reading habits are changing and celebrates a craft that has endured for centuries.

Genres: Design, Art, Nonfiction, Art Design, Creative, Reference, Crafts

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 2011

About the author

Steven Heller writes a monthly column on graphic design books for The New York Times Book Review and is co-chair of MFA Design at the School of Visual Arts. He has written more than 100 books on graphic design, illustration and political art, including Paul Rand, Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century, Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design Second Edition, Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age, Graphic Design History, Citizen Designer, Seymour Chwast: The Left Handed Designer, The Push Pin Graphic: Twenty Five Years of Design and Illustration, Stylepedia: A Guide to Graphic Design Mannerisms, Quirks, and Conceits, The Anatomy of Design: Uncovering the Influences and Inspirations in Modern Graphic Design. He edits VOICE: The AIGA Online Journal of Graphic Design, and writes for Baseline, Design Observer, Eye, Grafik, I.D., Metropolis, Print, and Step. Steven is the recipient of the Art Directors Club Special Educators Award, the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and the School of Visual Arts' Masters Series Award.

Reviews

[Kitty G Books]

This is a really great book because it really gets back to the beginnings of the fonts which designers have developed. The fact that there is a little type to explain the background every now and then is great and the images themselves would have made a stunning book. For the cost of this book it has been well worth it throughout my Typography project and just for reading for fun. I love this book and I think that the sketches within are truly inspiring and exciting for anyone who enjoys type.
Highly recommended!

[reading is my hustle]

A visual window.
Gorgeous and fantastic.

[Parka]

(More pictures on my blog)

Here's a colourful book for graphic designers and the typography fanatics.

It collects more then 90 artists and their experimentation with typography.

They are mostly hand drawn. You won't see much of the rigid fonts. Almost every one looks playful. There are some fonts created for comics, some grew plants to form letters, 3D fonts, painted fonts, and many more. The styles are wide-ranging and fascinating.

It's a great collection of ideas to look at when need to come up with your own.

[Brooke Stephenson]

A great look see for people like me who are obsessed with type. I found it really inspiring to see who artists work and how their ideas form. If you've ever wondered where fonts come from or you just like looking at awesome sketches, take a look at this book!

[Pel0s Smith]

Type-gasm!!! ^__^

[Becky]

Absolutely stunning! It's incredibly impressive visually and the content is really inspiring. I would definitely recommend this.

[Jonathan Dunkle]

Published in 2011, this book that compiles excerpts of sketchbooks belonging to type designers probably felt dated back then. For each designer, there is a paragraph or two exploring how the designer uses sketchbooks and their history with them. For most, the utilization of sketchbooks began in school. For many, the use of sketchbooks was diminishing as computer usage for type design became more prevalent. It would be interesting to see the results of a similar book now and whether young typographers are even using sketchbooks or if, like handwriting or mail or any endeavor that hasn't been farmed out to our AI overlords, it is dying out as the ubiquity of computers has made them obsolete.

While the selection of typographers included in the book was diverse, ranging from all over the world and covering male and female artists, the content itself did not share that diversity. Type sketches begin to look the same over hundreds of pages and as mentioned above, the limited text was pretty similar as well.

[Sandra]

If typography is your thing and you have a secret wish to spy into other people's notebooks/sketchbooks then this is the book for you. View the musings of a wide range of type designers and see how their process looks from the inside out.

What I liked: Every page has something visually compelling. So many designers doing some amazing work, I liked learning about them as much as viewing their sketchbooks. I really love this book. It is one to buy and refer to often for inspiration.

What I didn't like: I have no usual criticism because I really really like this book.

I give this book a 5 out of 5 star rating.

[Virginia Pulver]

I found this at a library book-sale! I love various types of typography so it delighted me to find this treasure. I am inspired by viewing various styles and techniques. It will live a happy life side-by-side with other books that inspire and motivate me to live more artfully. And with more delight. - Ginn, Day 8/Post Helene

[Mauricio Villamayor]

Although this book gives a great glimpse of designer's processes through sketches, it short felt short of content per designers. There are too many designers and not enough pages.

[Ruby]

Well, it's a wonderful book, don't get me wrong. But, there is so little information about how each artist works, and so few examples of each person's work, it is very frustrating. They say there are 90 artists represented. So maybe it would have been better to pick half that number and give them each twice the space to show their sketchbooks and discuss their working processes.

It's a large, heavy, softcover and very hard to open. It takes two hands and a table and it is very hard to see into the spine area of the illustrations which run edge to edge with no white space around them.

But it will keep you browsing for hours and hours, there are so many ideas.

[Courtney]

Interesting and thought provoking. This book contains a large number of sketchbook samples from a diverse sets of designers. The book is organized alphabetically by the designer's last name so you're almost guaranteed to get a completely different style with each turn of the page.

What was most interesting in reading the designers' thoughts on sketching was that it was used largely in two ways; first, as an initial or creative exploration, and second, as a flexible way of problem solving. Almost every designer interviewed also made heavy use of computers, but hadn't completely abandoned paper and pen for a variety of reasons.

[Juliana]

This is a great book for any designer or type fanatic. Even if you aren't all that interested in type, it's a treat for anyone who's interested in the design process and the background behind how final designs come to fruition. This compilation is the perfect blend of sketches and visual imagery without bombarding you with too much backstory behind each work, making it a wonderful reference and inspiration piece for sure!

[Roberto]

This book is insightful, easy to read, inspirational and filled with beautiful illustrations from the sketchbooks of multiple and talented designers/typographers. Is great to be able to peek into a creative's process even for a brief moment. Highly recommended for anyone interested in typography, illustration and design.

[Palma]

I flicked through this in a bookstore recently and wasn't that impressed especially since it was quite expensive.
It's a reference book of typography and you can easily find similar sources on the internet for free.
If you like to have your sources in book form or want to support the artist then by all means buy.

[Hannah Minchow-proffitt]

Every time I look at this book, my passions for graphic design, typography, and even the art of doodling are reignited. It reminds me that there are no mistakes in typography sketching. It's a time to simply be with the paper and ink/pencil/paint/whatever and see what happens.

[Eva.]

in een woord ; GEWELDIG! Ik doe de opleiding grafisch vormgever en ben zeker gek op zulke boeken, een of andere manier kan het mij echt helemaal blij maken, om allemaal verschillende ontwerpen te zien? en hij is ook nog eens super handig voor mijn opleiding!

[Oscar]

An interesting collection of great and terrible type design, though both are made more appealing by the accompanying sketches. Of the presented artists, I dug George Bates, Duarte Design and Katie Lambardo.

[Ben]

A hefty sampling of 'typographic musings' that intrigue and inspire, but can also end up running together if viewed all at once.

[Dani]

Great book, creative and inspired.

[Troy]

This makes me giddy to look at...A thick volume of sketches and doodlings and a joy to look at. Recommended if you like thinking about type.

[Robbie]

Beautiful book, an ideas-factory not just for typographers but for graphic designers as well. More of a coffee-table book than a tome for reading, of course.

[Lindsay]

Loved all the peak into different journals and the little bio about each designer. Very good book, Highly recommended.

[Joyjoy]

very inspiring book. excited to do practice. :)

[Lydia]

Pretty dang awesome. I'll be looking through it for inspiration often.

[Cate Meredith]

Gorgeous book. Very inspiring.

[Mie]

Such a great book. It's one I definitely will revisit a couple of times for inspiration. It was a light but interesting read

[Jacksonceryshotmail.Co.Uk]

Very good book, fab pictures, a excellent resource for typography and artists. would be fab if they included some practice space!

[Amanda Schutz]

Type eye candy :)

[Chris]

Inspirational and interesting.