Ninja’s type book recommendations
Ninja December 6th, 2007
Books for the typophile on your list. ^__^
+Helvetica: Homage to a Typeface
Price: $13.60
This book sings the praises of the honest worker and solo entertainer of typefaces, Helvetica, and of its forgotten creator and all those who have contributed to its unparalleled international march of triumph over the past forty years. Filled with pages of color images of Helvetica in use, the designs gathered together in honor of Helvetica have been created by superb designers and anonymous amateurs from all over the world.
+The Ten Commandments of Typography/Type Heresy
Price: $15.61
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.
+Hand Job: A Catalog of Type
Price: $23.10
Hand Job collects groundbreaking work from fifty an international array of todays most talented typographers who draw by hand.
+New Typographic Design
Price: $23.10
The book’s introduction discusses changing attitudes to innovation in typography through the 19th and 20th centuries, including the changing role of the designer, the question of legibility versus form, how type has become image, and the differing requirements for screen-based and print-based type. Four accompanying sections illustrate the key areas of typography today: type as form, type as image, type as experiment, and type in motion.
+
Price: $13.57
Thinking with Type is divided into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an easy-to-grasp essay that reviews historical, technological, and theoretical concepts, and is then followed by a set of practical exercises that bring the material covered to life. Sections conclude with examples of work by leading practitioners that demonstrate creative possibilities (along with some classic no-no’s to avoid).
+Wordplay: The Philosophy, Art, and Science of Ambigrams
Price: $10.17
This lovely updated edition of the classic collection of ambigrams features a section of full-color ambigrams and dozens of stunning, mind-bending examples of this cryptic art form. Each strikingly beautiful and arresting illustration is accompanied by a short essay—sometimes serious, sometimes witty—to delight your brain as much as your eyes. Taken together, the art and the essays show how the very shape of letters can change our idea of words and their meanings.
+Typographically Speaking: The Art of Matthew Carter
Price: $35.00
Typographically Speaking: The Art of Matthew Carter entered the field in the days of hand-cut punches and hot-metal type, and has continued to innovate through the eras of photocomposition and digital design. Essays discuss the form of his work, his position and use of typographic history, and his technological innovation. All of his fonts are reproduced in full for reference, and illustrations place his designs in context.
+Designing Type
Price: $21.12
This book is illustrated with numerous diagrams that demonstrate visual principles and letter construction, ranging from informal progress sketches to final type designs and diagrams. A wide range of classic and modern typefaces is analyzed, including those from many premier contemporary type foundaries. Introductory essays and diagrams emphasize the history of type, the primary systems of typeface classification, the two main proportional systems for type, the parts of a letter, the effects of new technology on design methodology, the optical illusions that affect density and balance in letterforms, and the differences in form between basic serif typestyles. The book provides detailed guidelines for creating serif and sans serif letters, numbers, punctuation, and accents.
* book descriptions from Amazon.
Related posts- Guides , Posts by Ninja , Shopping , Type
- Comments
Add New Comment
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks