The Ten Commandments of Typography/Type Heresy: Breaking the Ten Commandments of Typography by Paul Felton

by Paul Felton

A humorous and incisive analysis of the basic tenets of typography and how to turn them on their heads, this book will appeal to the conformist and the non-conformist in everyone - not just the newcomer to design. One side of this sharp-witted, cleverly designed guide presents the ten main rules, or `commandments', of type design, addressing such aspects of typographic doctrine as legibility, alignment and capitalization; the other shows how type can successfully subvert these rules, presenting `sacreligious' visual alternatives. In support of the commandments Felton includes a list of twelve `disciples', those internationally renowned graphic designers whom he identifies as rule-abiding, including such figures as Eric Gill, Jan Tschichold and Erik Spiekermann. Confronting these are his `fallen angels', including such experimental typographers as David Carson, Jeffery Keedy, Phil Baines and Jonathan Barnbrook.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Reference

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Elon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just wanted a book on type and here I got a book by men celebrating - you guessed it - only other men. It's not clever or rebellious as it claims and left me feeling disappointed. But maybe a bit inspired to do this better.

[Ishqha K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A real quick read and its true to it’s name - commandments. Witty. That’s all.

Not even worth as a refresher.

[H James · Rating 1 out of 5]

The manifesto aspects are thoroughly unconvincing, and the double‐sided book gimmick is interesting for about 90 seconds.

[Sagarika Choudhury · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very very VERY quick read.

[Davide Genco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sono stato adescato dalla formula double face della copertina, comunicativamente piuttosto convincente, aspettandomi dal contenuto interno lo stesso tono minimal e brillante.
In realtà l'ho trovato piuttosto pedissequo, più scarno che sintetico, mentre l'idea dei dieci comandamenti non è stata del tutto sfruttata come potenzialità sia grafica che espositiva, proponendo delle case history di applicazione delle font piuttosto deboli. Soprattutto nella parte "infernale" mi sarei aspettato delle soluzioni formalmente più convincenti, perchè solo la loro dirompenza avrebbe davvero dimostrato la necessità di rompere le regole.
Oltre al "packaging", salvo soltanto una semplice frase estrapolata da un'intervista di prefazione a Matthew Carter, che probabilmente ri-citerò a mia volta all'occasione buona: "The advantage o frules is that they can prevent mistakes; the disadvantage is that tehey can prevent discoveries".

[Wes Wong · Rating 1 out of 5]

For some reason I thought this was going to be an essay based book, but it turned out to be heavy on the typographic illustrations. The actual content was minimal, and it was one of those "heard it all before" type of books. It was interesting enough for me to keep reading though it, but I was done in 10 min.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little book is really cute. An inspiration piece that's fun to look at, not a source of much actual information.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This smart little book demonstrates that every rule was made to be broken. And if you are going to break it, doing it in a good font.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully made book.

[Sathyan Velumani · Rating 4 out of 5]

great quick read in typography basics