Creative Type: A Sourcebook of Classic and Contemporary Letterforms

by Cees W. de Jong, Alston W. Purvis, Friedrich Friedl

A dynamic visual record of typeface evolution, focusing on the last twenty years. The digital era has entirely transformed the world of typography. This elegant and easy-to-use book provides a comprehensively illustrated record of developments in the field, clearly setting them in their historical context and forming an essential reference for graphic designers everywhere.

Creative Type begins with three essays that address issues such as the impact of the digital era on typography and the ways in which contemporary designers are harnessing the typefaces of the past to satisfy the needs of the present. The book goes on to illustrate thirty-four modern classic typefaces produced between 1985 and 2004, accompanied by comments from each font's designer. A section devoted to the great historic typefaces, from Garamond, created in 1543, to Akzidenz Grotesk, designed by Gunter Gerhard Lange in 1969, completes the volume. Illustrated in color and black and white

Genres: Design

400 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Cees W. de Jong is a designer and publisher based in Naarden, the Netherlands. He has published numerous books on design, architecture, art and graphic design, and is now working as a design/publishing consultant and author.

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book ...

I'm a graphic designer who uses often and also loves typefaces. I would even like to be a font designer someday. Yet I was disappointed by this book. The pictures and fonts were fun to look at, but the text itself was pretty boring.