Thinking With Type 2nd Ed: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students (Design Briefs)

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Traditional branding books focus on large companies and big brands. But in the 2010s and 2020s, corporate design has diversified enormously as the startup scene explodes around the world. In this 2015 book, Robert Klanten shares some of the best work by creative agencies for startup founders, from a beauty parlour in Singapore to a whisky distillery in Finland. 38. Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne A true classic, originally published in 1992, and thoroughly revised for the modern era. Renowned typographer Robert Bringhurst explains the art of typography in a clear and concise style, from practical, theoretical, and historical perspectives. Quite simply a must-read for any graphic designer entering the profession. 8. Book of Branding by Radim Malinic A typeface without serifs is called a sans serif typeface, from the French word “sans” that means "without." Sans serifs can be classified as Transitional, Humanist and Geometric. Of course, the space shuttle team didn’t have a flashlight, so they had to use convergent thinking instead to reach a solution. Skip a weight; use multiple font weights within a typeface to differentiate text, so adding contrast between your headlines, body copy and call-to-actions.

Type classifications were a basic system for classifying typefaces devised in the nineteenth century, in an effort to organize and understand type. Common classifications include Serif, Sans Serif, Monospace, Script and Display typefaces. TYPOPHILIA An excessive attachment to and fascination with the shape of letters, often to the exclusion of other interests and object choices. Typophiliacs usually die penniless and alone." Sometimes people avoid concrete thinking because they don’t want to appear stubborn. However, we need more people to insist on evidence that supports the claims people throw around, well… and insist concretely. Creative work is hard, and it never really gets easier. So to make it as a graphic designer, you need some stamina, and this book can help. It's full of illustrated advice and encouragement on how to stay creative, focused, and true to yourself in the face of burnout or distractions. 43. Layout Essentials by Beth Tondreau

With the advent of the Macintosh computer and desktop publishing software in the 1980s, tasks once performed by others, such as typesetting and the creation of mechanicals, fell upon the designer. But what of the typesetter’s knowledge and craft? The appearance of new technologies seems to produce a disconnect between old and new ways of doing things. Something valuable gets lost in the shuffle. Designers Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals examine classic design examples as well as exciting contemporary lettering of all stripes - from editorial illustrations to concert posters to radical conceptual alphabets. Thinking with Type is the typography book for everyone: designers, writers, editors, students, and anyone else who works with words. If you love font and lettering books, Ellen Lupton's guide reveals the way typefaces are constructed and how to use them most effectively.

Work Hard & Be Nice to People by Anthony Burrill 33. Drawing Type: An Introduction to Illustrating Letterforms by Alex Fowkes If you find it difficult to remember asking questions like that, consider using a memory wheel to help. Six: Convergent Thinking This is a rewarding and recommendable guide, all the more so because of Lupton’s gifts as an educator and critic. Her expositional style is sophisticated yet approachable, and her analyses refuse to take anything for granted. By taking apart even the oldest of typographic conventions, Lupton casts them in a new light, bridging the gap between type’s long-standing traditions and its newest, most up-to-date practices. This is one of those beautiful books that conveys meaning as much through its form as through its content. It contains many images of type designed in various ways, integrated with descriptive text to demonstrate various principles of typography.North and Peter Saville turn landmark new cultural venue into a sharp logo design for Factory International Thinking With Type is fun for the eyes and for the most part a good primer on multiple aspects of working with words, but it stumbles hard in few place, making factually incorrect assertions or offering dubious advice. The most flagrant errors are concentrated in the content new to the expanded second edition, so finding a first edition may be advisable. A GRID BREAKS SPACE OR TIME INTO REGULAR UNITS [all small caps]. A grid can be simple or complex, specific or generic, tightly defined or loosely interpreted. Typographical grids are all about control (151). Debbie Millman is best known as the host of the design podcast Design Matters. This book is inspired by the monologues she prepares for each episode and features illustrated essays on life and design. Covering topics ranging from brands and behaviour to rituals, love and music, this book will make you think and occasionally laugh out loud. 30. Branding: In Five and a Half Steps by Michael Johnson Throughout the course, we’ll supply you with lots of templates and step-by-step guides so you can go right out and use what you learn in your everyday practice.

I know there are things in it that will be old hat to experienced visual communications folk, but I'm not one of them. I'm learning, and I know some of this stuff, but a lot I either don't know at all or need to read it again anyway to try to get it into my head. In the final lesson, you’ll learn about grid systems and their importance in providing structure within design. You’ll also learn about the types of grid systems and how to effectively use grids to improve your work.According to Edward de Bono, creative thinking is like digging holes laterally, rather than merely vertically. I do LIKE "brute fact of cognition". I'm going to save it and use it somewhere crucial. And this stuff about the transition from "reader" to "user" -- I was reading this on the train and just delighting in the concept provocation. "The reader, having toppled the author's seat of power during the twentieth century" (that's the Derrida stuff) "now ails and lags, replaced by the dominant subjects of our own era: the user, a figure whose scant attention is our most coveted commodity. Do not squander it." I liked this book a LOT. It had loads of interesting details in it for me, my kind of detail, and it had a sense of humour. Lots of funny bits, and lots of bits that made me think long and hard. According to Ellen Lupton, author of “Thinking with Type,” type classifications are a basic system for classifying typefaces devised in the nineteenth century, when printers sought to identify a heritage for their own craft analogous to that of art history. Humanist letterforms are closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of the hand. Transitional and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic. These three main groups correspond roughly to the Renaissance, Baroque and Enlightenment periods in art and literature. So, let’s begin. Designer and educator Mia Cinelli will discuss type classifications, type families, and help us understand the difference between a font and a typeface.

Grid. Of the three sections (letters, text, and grid), grid is probably the least familiar. Lupton defines grid in this way: In 1959, design legends Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar produced a small booklet about typographic creativity. Six decades on, it remains influential, and this reproduction includes added thoughts by other designers including Michael Carabetta, George Lois, April Greiman, Steve Heller and Kit Hinrichs on its lasting impact. 36. Why Fonts Matter by Sarah Hyndman While many areas of design benefit from a broad-brush approach, type design is about mathematical precision, and it's quite normal for type designers to spend an entire day working on a single letter. If that doesn't sound like fun to you then it's probably best you stop reading now. It is kind of like asking a city kid where food comes from—well duh, it comes from the grocery store! If you want to improve your creative thinking, de Bono’s practices are useful to look into. However, it’s important to note that “creative” isn’t quite the right word because no one is “creating” anything new.I think I was hoping to be more inspired by the book. I was inspired, but in more subtle ways than I expected. I did learn things that I didn't know about typefaces, and I enjoyed seeing visual representations of the type in text. I read somewhere that Steve Jobs had an early interest in typography and that it helped engender an attention to detail in his approach to good design. Also, my brother has a healthy appreciation for typography. So, I thought I'd try to learn a little of what it was all about.