Posts tagged book

Book Review: The Geometry of Type

There are many things I like about Stephen Coles’ recent book; the bright, clean design and the accessible structure allowing you to dip in and out; but most of all, it’s the lack of fluff or filler. The content has been carefully honed to focus on the important details, which is in fact what the book is all about: the details of each typeface.

In highlighting and comparing the features that give each typeface its character, anyone exploring this subject can begin to make informed choices between similar typeface options.

The pithy descriptions describe each typeface’s origin and advise what makes each appropriate for certain scenarios and where it might fail. These are occasionally laced with a subtle humour that keeps the tone of the book warm.

The great balance of written and visual explanation means the book works well as a quick reference but has a seductive way of drawing you in to read more and examine further.

The 100 “essential” typefaces chosen covers a decent range and they have been categorised in the most straight-forward way. Historically it stretches from Gill Sans 1928-32) right up to Heron Serif (2012), but also acknowledges original creation dates for revivals such as Bembo (1495).

I’ve already found it useful in my work and I know I’ll enjoy repeatedly picking it up in the future to compare other typefaces in my collection and those I’ve spotted in the wild.

Well worth picking up a copy. Take a look the book’s online companion on tumblr: The Anatomy of Type

typeanatomy.com

A Special Specimen

This wonderful and colourful type specimen once belonged to Paul Rand. It was given to JP Williams, who had become friends with Rand while studying under the professor at Yale School of Art. They both shared a passion for collecting all things written and designed by Jan Tschichold. Rand invited JP to his home and gave him this ‘tattered old book’ from his library. 

It was well used – not to mention mutilated by Rand – and JP describes how Rand used to cut letters and sometimes whole sections out for use in his work: ‘The spine was broken and it was in a horrible state. Of course I loved it’.

“Mr Rand turned page after page to reveal the most wonderful type specimens. However, since we usually spoke about Tschichold, I did not understand what this book had to do with him. Then Mr. Rand closed the book and opened it from the beginning, revealing the inside front cover and the ex libris. It had belonged to none other than Jan Tschichold. my mouth fell open and Mr. Rand smiled. Enjoy, as I have.”

amassblog.com

Bodoni pop-up book. Beautiful.

cukri:

Bodoni Bedlam Pop-Up Book by Victoria Macey


Very talented illustrator and designer Victoria presents us a very pretty pop-up book. And she’s one of the artists which we can find on tumblr. Follow her here.

cukri

Bold Enemies, Gold Foil and Pink Cover artwork for a book recently released by Swedish design agency, Snask, with the subtitle of “The Snask way of becoming a successful creative entrepreneur”. “Snask” is Swedish for gossip, filth and candy. Their outspoken, irreverent views on the industry and zealous pursuit of hand-made work has earned them quite a reputation over the last five years. They discuss their convictions regularly at design conferences and say that everywhere they travel they make a couple of enemies but millions of fans. The book advocates “Going your own way” and maintains that you can’t do this without creating a few enemies along the way. This immediately put me in mind of the famous Winston Churchill quote, “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life”. I’m loving the colour and the almost vulgar gold foiling. I’m assuming the pink is a reference to ‘Pink Lies’ a term they coined to describe…well you’ll just have to read the book, won’t you.

Bold Enemies, Gold Foil and Pink

Cover artwork for a book recently released by Swedish design agency, Snask, with the subtitle of “The Snask way of becoming a successful creative entrepreneur”.

“Snask” is Swedish for gossip, filth and candy. Their outspoken, irreverent views on the industry and zealous pursuit of hand-made work has earned them quite a reputation over the last five years.

They discuss their convictions regularly at design conferences and say that everywhere they travel they make a couple of enemies but millions of fans. The book advocates “Going your own way” and maintains that you can’t do this without creating a few enemies along the way. This immediately put me in mind of the famous Winston Churchill quote, “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life”.

I’m loving the colour and the almost vulgar gold foiling. I’m assuming the pink is a reference to ‘Pink Lies’ a term they coined to describe…well you’ll just have to read the book, won’t you.

snask.com

Let’s talk type. Herb Lubalin. This is typical of Lubalin’s work: a stark, bold layout—with bespoke lettering, combined to create a stunning composition. It’s A 1959 trade-journal ad, promoting the work of the advertising firm Sudley & Hennessey, where Lubalin worked from 1945 to 1964. This week I spent an evening at St. Brides typographic library for a celebration of the life and work of the American Graphic Designer and for the launch of the first comprehensive monograph devoted to him since 1985. Adrian Shaughnessy, who authored the revealing manuscript gave a list of facts that he had learnt while compiling his research. Herb’s surname is pronounced Lu•bah•lin (not luba•lin). It wasn’t just the Brits that mis-pronounced it, people around him often got it wrong, prompting a graphic motif showing the correct pronunciation.  Famous for being taciturn and for his monosyllabic utterances, his best friend, Lou Dorfsman (see my last post), recalled flying from New York to L.A. with him, without Lubalin uttering a single word to him. He was colour blind. This resulted in a few awkward moments with his team, when discussing colour choices. With his mastery of black and white work and with full-colour printing still expensive, how would you even know? He was truly ambidextrous, able to sign cheques for the admin staff while drawing type at the same time.  Lualin was politically very active—often designing for liberal magazines with little or no budget. When his friend and publisher, Ralph Ginzburg, went to prison for printing a photo of a mixed-race embrace, in Eros magazine, that Lubalin designed, he told his wife “I should have gone to jail too.” He rated Saul Bass as the greatest designer of the time.  You can find the new book Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer1918—81at United Editions. Books produced by designers, for designers.

Let’s talk type. Herb Lubalin.

This is typical of Lubalin’s work: a stark, bold layout—with bespoke lettering, combined to create a stunning composition. It’s A 1959 trade-journal ad, promoting the work of the advertising firm Sudley & Hennessey, where Lubalin worked from 1945 to 1964.

This week I spent an evening at St. Brides typographic library for a celebration of the life and work of the American Graphic Designer and for the launch of the first comprehensive monograph devoted to him since 1985.

Adrian Shaughnessy, who authored the revealing manuscript gave a list of facts that he had learnt while compiling his research.

  • Herb’s surname is pronounced Lu•bah•lin (not luba•lin). It wasn’t just the Brits that mis-pronounced it, people around him often got it wrong, prompting a graphic motif showing the correct pronunciation. 
  • Famous for being taciturn and for his monosyllabic utterances, his best friend, Lou Dorfsman (see my last post), recalled flying from New York to L.A. with him, without Lubalin uttering a single word to him.
  • He was colour blind. This resulted in a few awkward moments with his team, when discussing colour choices. With his mastery of black and white work and with full-colour printing still expensive, how would you even know?
  • He was truly ambidextrous, able to sign cheques for the admin staff while drawing type at the same time. 
  • Lualin was politically very active—often designing for liberal magazines with little or no budget. When his friend and publisher, Ralph Ginzburg, went to prison for printing a photo of a mixed-race embrace, in Eros magazine, that Lubalin designed, he told his wife “I should have gone to jail too.”
  • He rated Saul Bass as the greatest designer of the time. 

You can find the new book Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer1918—81at United Editions. Books produced by designers, for designers.

imprint.printmag.com

Tactile type: Postcards from Rome In my recent interview with Dominique Falla I mentioned that she was planning a large typographic project to help fund her Master typography course in Rome with Louise Fili; well here it is! Just launched: pledge an amount, pick a ‘Roma’ theme and have Dominique create you a unique tactile typographic postcard from the Eternal City. Each of the 50 cards will feature in an accompanying book (above) the documents each card’s story plus a ‘thank you’ credit for each supporter. 

Tactile type: Postcards from Rome

In my recent interview with Dominique Falla I mentioned that she was planning a large typographic project to help fund her Master typography course in Rome with Louise Fili; well here it is!

Just launched: pledge an amount, pick a ‘Roma’ theme and have Dominique create you a unique tactile typographic postcard from the Eternal City. Each of the 50 cards will feature in an accompanying book (above) the documents each card’s story plus a ‘thank you’ credit for each supporter. 

postcardsfromromeproject.com

artandtext: (via design work life » Saranna Drury Lettering) I love these designs from Kiwi graduate, Saranna Drury’s course work. Part of a typographic handbook for high school design students, ‘Friend not Foe’ aims to introduce them to type design early.

artandtext:

(via design work life » Saranna Drury Lettering)

I love these designs from Kiwi graduate, Saranna Drury’s course work.
Part of a typographic handbook for high school design students, ‘Friend not Foe’ aims to introduce them to type design early.

Print & Pattern by Bowie Style. Beautiful cover spotted in local bookshop. (Taken with Instagram at Clerkenwell Tales Bookshop) See more gorgeous work here: http://printandpatternbook.blogspot.com/

Print & Pattern by Bowie Style. Beautiful cover spotted in local bookshop. (Taken with Instagram at Clerkenwell Tales Bookshop)

See more gorgeous work here: http://printandpatternbook.blogspot.com/

A whole book on one page.

These innovative posters layout all the text from classic books on a single sheet and incorporate shapes that evoke plot themes.

The books are unabridged and designer Carl Pappenheim takes great care to maintain the paragraph breaks and legibility of the stories “At this size it’s all about legibility”. They are generally set in 4pt Times New Roman - which he found to work well at this size, and then printed on A0 size paper.

The idea for Spineless Classics came when Carl saw a fine detailed architectural drawing being printed at a friend’s studio and wondered if an entire novel could fit on one sheet, if printed small enough. The resulting first poster was given as a Christmas present to his Mother. After attracting early interest online, Carl booked a stand at 100% Design and now a few years on, his posters are sold in boutique stores to Selfridge’s and Urban Outfitters.

Carl has offered a generous discount for Type Worship followers.

spinelessclassics.com

Thank you Tumblr… A massive thanks to Tumblr for selecting Type Worship to feature in their Typography Spotlight. Image: 25th Anniversary book for Channel 4. Alex Trochut, Barcelona, Spain.

Thank you Tumblr…

A massive thanks to Tumblr for selecting Type Worship to feature in their Typography Spotlight.

Image: 25th Anniversary book for Channel 4. Alex Trochut, Barcelona, Spain.

behance.net

I wonder by Marian Bantjes

I wonder by Marian Bantjes

twitpic.com