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The Art of Typography : an Introduction to Typo-icon-ography
Explores the aesthetics of effective typographic design--line, mass, texture, planes, and tonal value--and includes a comparative chart of more than two hundred typefaces
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
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June 13, 2015
If you want to learn the rudiments of typesetting, as I did, this book will certainly help.
On the down side, it's thirty years old, and so a lot of it is obsolete, such as discussions of the differences between linotype and monotype machines. And the second half of the book is just font samples, something that you can at any number of web sites these days.
At the same time, a lot of it is still relevant: kerning is still kerning, the difference between positive and negative space is still the same as it was in the eighties, and so on. These are the parts you want to look for[*].
But I can't give this more than three stars because the author keeps going off on... let's say "artistic tangents". Comments on "energy" and "movement" of the sort that you might overhear at a Soho art gallery, which probably make sense to Solomon, but not to me.
*: Unless, of course, you just found a monotype machine at a yard sale, in which case read those parts instead, and have fun.
On the down side, it's thirty years old, and so a lot of it is obsolete, such as discussions of the differences between linotype and monotype machines. And the second half of the book is just font samples, something that you can at any number of web sites these days.
At the same time, a lot of it is still relevant: kerning is still kerning, the difference between positive and negative space is still the same as it was in the eighties, and so on. These are the parts you want to look for[*].
But I can't give this more than three stars because the author keeps going off on... let's say "artistic tangents". Comments on "energy" and "movement" of the sort that you might overhear at a Soho art gallery, which probably make sense to Solomon, but not to me.
*: Unless, of course, you just found a monotype machine at a yard sale, in which case read those parts instead, and have fun.
Displaying 1 of 1 review