"This book is a short read, perfectly pitched at those looking to take
their first step into the world of typography" CreativeBloq
"Geared towards helping you evolve different typographic styles, the
book [...] is packed with practical techniques and iconic examples" -
Creative Boom
Playing with typographic puzzle pieces is one of the joys of graphic
design and typographers have many entertaining, esoteric, and eccentric
options at their disposal. The Typography Idea Book presents 50 of the
most inspiring approaches used by masters of the field from across the
world, visible in all areas of popular culture. Beautifully illustrated,
this book presents images from leading designers who use fonts,
lettering, illustrations and digital media in all fields of the visual
arts, including web design, logo design and branding.
Geared towards helping you evolve different typographic styles, The
Typography Idea Book contains none of the technical jargon or tired old
rules found in traditional tutorials but is packed with practical
techniques and iconic examples. From type transformation to abstraction,
via overlapping, hand-lettering, vectorizing, novelty typefaces, and
puns, discover all the brilliant ideas you could be bringing to your own
designs.
From the introduction:
"Not every designer is a good, much less a great, typographer. Actually,
to be a great typographer you have to be a highly skilled graphic
designer in the first place. Typography is, arguably, the most important
component of graphic design. It requires a distinct ability to make
readable messages while expressing, emoting and projecting concepts to
audiences, large and small.
Typography can be copied and, therefore, it can be taught. Like the
classical painting student learning to perfect the rendering of human
form by repeatedly drawing from the same plaster cast, the best way to
learn typography is to do it over and over again. Theory is fine, but
practice is necessary in order to develop a visceral feeling about the
way letters sit on a page or screen. You must know if they are in
harmony, or unsuited to marriage. Playing with typographic puzzle pieces
is one of the joys of typography. While the end result must be
understandable - though please note that doesn't necessarily mean
legible, for illegibility is relative and what is illegible can often be
deciphered - the process can be intuitive. What you see is more than
what you get: playing with type is an opportunity to create typographic
personalities both for yourself and for your clients.
This book is geared towards helping you evolve different typographic
characters or styles, or perhaps even your specific design signature.
What this book is not is a tutorial in typographic basics - kerning,
spacing, selecting, and so on. There are many excellent existing volumes
that will give you that essential knowledge. Our intention here is to
lay out many of the fun, esoteric and eccentric options a typographer
has at his or her disposal. These 'commonly uncommon' approaches include
type transformation and mutation, as well as puns and metaphors, and
typographic pastiche and quotation.
In other words if typographic basics are the 'main course' in your
typographic feeding frenzy, the ideas herein are the dessert. It's time
to indulge yourself in what is offered on the menu of typographic
confections." - Steven Heller and Gail Anderson
