(Part 2) Top products from r/typography

Quick comments!

1. Somewhat interesting application of how to use the layout of a text to represent its meaning. Perhaps useful? Not sure I'd call it essential.
   
   
2. Not familiar enough with Arabic type design nor the book to give feedback on it. The pictures look interesting. Essential though? Maybe if you're doing Arabic.
   
   
3. Definitely an important reference guide to typographers, but I find it difficult to really engage with. Jost Hochuli's Detail in Typography is much easier to read and covers many of the same things.
   
   
4. Good book. Accessible, informative, interesting. Beginners should read this (rather than Stop Stealing Sheep which I find over-hyped and only suitable, perhaps, for absolute beginners)
   
   
5. Lettering, not typography. If you're interested in lettering, sure, pick up a copy, but it isn't typography.
   
   
6. An intro to typography by a non-typographer. Accessible for non-graphic designers, but an essential book for typographers? Not sure. At least is good to know about.
   
   
7. Gill is a rather interesting individual. I haven't read this myself, but it could be fun. Good old Gill. Haha. Might be a bit more inaccessible though.
   
   
8. Similar to #5, this is also lettering rather than typography per se. That said, this book looks pretty awesome and I plan to get one.
   
   
9. What I've heard about this book is that the text in it isn't terribly brilliant, but the imagery is amazing and by purchasing it, you get to download high-res versions. Probably worth it for those, but I haven't been bothered to get a copy.
   
   
10. Again, this is not typography. This is lettering.
    
    Soooo, what have we got here? I'd say, on the list, there's probably 2 books that are quite valuable and should be checked out for anyone interested in this sort of thing. The rest are optional or completely unrelated to typography. That doesn't mean that they aren't useful or interesting, but they aren't essential.

Ha, I would also assume that getting people to read it is unquestionably good in most ways :) But…I also wonder about if, in academia, there's a sense that a cover that's too good might not be serious enough, that it might be seen as sociologists see Malcolm Gladwell books or economists see Freakonomics.

Anyways: I think these sorts of historical stories, where you are looking at a modern-day state of affairs and retracing the steps and powers that brought it into being, are super interesting for a general audience. Elaine Pagels' Revelations and Russell Shorto's Amsterdam are two that come to mind, although that's a very broad grouping.

I bring those up because looking at the cover, it feels very much like "somebody had a PhD thesis and they turned it into a more readable book." I don't know if that's the case with this or not, but it sort of looks like the sort of book you'd find in a university's library, where the professor who works there keeps 1 copy at the library and makes his students buy the remaining stock every year.

I might pick it up if I'm someone with an academic interest in history, but not someone like me who enjoys history as a general interest reader. And based on what little I can tell from the cover, it's a book that could potentially have a broad appeal with the right marketing — it's a topic that ties in with so many things in the headlines.

So, in terms of what to do: I might do some research at the local bookstore on what's hot in book covers at the moment. With a b&w photo + one color, this can be very understated and elegant when done with expensive materials and processes, but as a flat image, it says "academic work." With Elaine Pagels' Revelations, rather than having a block of color over the image, it's just white type over the image. This tends to feel stronger to me. With Shorto's Amsterdam, you have more of a collaged, geometric approach that you would probably want to have a graphic designer do if you were going to take a crack at that. I would also see how the image looks at like 100 and even 50 px across, since this is going to live primarily as an ebook. Again, context.

EDIT: the main thing I didn't express outright was that I think fiddling with the type but leaving the general layout as is will not make a big difference. There needs to be some intrigue, some emotional connection, that makes the reader click on your book amidst the search results for "cold war history" or whatever they typed into amazon. Adjusting the typography is not going to accomplish that.

• The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
  
  
• Stop Stealing Sheep & find our how type works 3rd Edition by Erik Spiekermann, this one is a super easy read but a great book.
  
  
• Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton, I have the 2nd Edition
  
  
• Making and Breaking the Grid by Timothy Samara
  
  
• Typographic Design: Form and Communication by Rob Carter, Ben Day, Philip Meggs. I have the 4th edition but I think most are okay. This is a good general typography textbook.
  
  
• Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston
  
  I can't give suggestions on hand-lettering books yet as the few I have read weren't good...so I'm trying to find better ones. But check out Louise Fili and Jessica Hische for inspiration and of course Paula Scher and Sagmeister.
  
  There are many other books so I welcome others to chime in and add their suggestions.

If they are interested in learning typography, something like Elements of Typographic Style or A Type Primer by John Kane would be good.

If they just want something nice to flip through something like this might be more fun https://www.amazon.com/Junk-Type-Typography-Lettering-Badges/dp/0789332655

A few of my favorites in no particular order

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
The definitive source for classic typography, a must read for anyone seriously interested in type.

[Reading Letters by Sofie Beier] (https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Letters-Legibility-Sofie-Beier/dp/9063692714)
A great intro to text legibility with lots of imagery.

Shaping Text by Jan Middendorp
Nice intro to typography and the importance of context.

Shady Characters by Keith Houston
Part novel, part history, part art. All about the origins of typographic symbols, characters, and alphabets. If that sort of thing interests you check this book out.

Seconding Thinking with Type. I also recommend Type & Typography by Phil Bains and Andrew Haslam. Both are visually interesting, and definitely useful.

You could be correct in one thing. Perhaps it's TOO much thought that went into the site, because you can analyze it to infinity, and come with longer lists of logical reasons why it should be good, but you can't deny the simple observable fact that it isn't. It's trying to say someone should find art beautiful because they are the experts and the highest quality material is used. It doesn't mean a thing.

You should read this book, a must read for everyone into design.

Whether to use small caps for abbreviations or not is a commonly debated issue in typography, and even in this very reddit thread you have people on both sides of this style issue.

If abbreviations are set with all caps, e.g., "NAACP" then they take up a lot of space and call a lot of attention to themselves. On the Internet, typing in all caps is called "shouting" for this very reason. Small caps are a way to indicate that a word is an abbreviation via capitals but not give it too much ink or space via the smallness of the capitals.

Robert Bringhurst is a typographer that a lot of people respect, and he advocates for the use of small caps for abbreviations. Here's what it looks like in the 3rd edition of his Elements of Typographic Style:

https://i.imgur.com/UBgWgnF.png

And here's where he actually gives his advice to use small caps (from same book):

https://i.imgur.com/IPibjDd.png

Didn't realize that. The Brooklyn Museum station has a lot of original elements (molded trims, gargoyles, etc) that were re-mounted in different ways after the big station rehab , so I figured the mosaic above the stairs was the same.

Great article. I saw his presentation of his Helvetica/Subway research at the TDC a few years ago.:) Have you seen Paul Shaw's book?

I used it for all the headings of The Big Book of Font Combinations and gave it it's own pairing chapter: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Font-Combinations-Enthusiasts/dp/0960043918

I also used it on the previous cover design (for nine years) - one of my favorite serif typefaces for quirky reasons. However it's a bit limited in application if used as body font. It's just too wide. Unless you are making children's...schoolbooks. Then it's great!

It is a bit schoolmarmish, though, isn't it.

The Anatomy of Type is a book worth reading. http://www.amazon.com/The-Anatomy-Type-Graphic-Typefaces/dp/0062203126

Nicely laid out and goes into extensive detail on the various classes of typefaces. Gives a clear overview of typography while providing 2 page spreads for many specific typeface examples, and draws attention to their defining characteristics.

http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/ Ellen Lupton is a great teacher
http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Manual-Typography-Setting/dp/0321773268/ref=dp_ob_title_bk This book explains everything
http://webtypography.net/ if you're designing for the web
http://shape.method.ac/ and http://type.method.ac/ to learn how type designers see

Nice! Here it is on Amazon.

Oh man, this one looks so good. I would really like to trade my version for that one.

If you're looking for something small, I would recommend this calendar:

https://www.amazon.com/Typodarium-2019/dp/B079PF13RL/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543558141&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=typodarium+2019&dpPl=1&dpID=41U3pI2g%2BrL&ref=plSrch

Features one font every day

Check out The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design (Classic Typography Series) by Jan Tschichold. A curmudgeon from the old school, these are the rules you should know if you want to break them. I had no idea this book was so expensive though: $58.98 used!

https://smile.amazon.com/American-Typefaces-Twentieth-Century-Revised/dp/0938768395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485807124&sr=8-1&keywords=american+metal+typefaces

https://smile.amazon.com/Encyclopaedia-Typefaces-Berry-Johnson-Jaspert/dp/1844036707/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485807144&sr=8-1&keywords=encyclopedia+of+typefaces

https://smile.amazon.com/Modern-Encyclopedia-Typefaces-1960-90-Lawrence/dp/0442308094/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485807162&sr=8-1&keywords=modern+encyclopedia+of+typefaces

https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=an+a%E2%80%93z+of+type+designers

https://smile.amazon.com/American-Design-Designers-David-Consuegra/dp/1581153201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485807215&sr=8-1&keywords=american+type+design+and+designers

https://smile.amazon.com/American-Wood-Type-1828-1900-Evolution/dp/0978588177/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485807240&sr=8-1&keywords=american+wood+type

https://smile.amazon.com/French-Renaissance-Printing-Types-Conspectus/dp/1584562714/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485807262&sr=8-1&keywords=french+renaissance+printing+types

https://smile.amazon.com/Nineteenth-Century-American-Designers-Engravers-Type/dp/1584562617/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485807283&sr=8-1&keywords=nineteenth+century+american+designers+and+engravers+of+type

I rea it in this book http://www.amazon.com/Primer-Visual-Literacy-Donis-Dondis/dp/0262540290/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1 you should also check outnPrinciples of form and design by Wucius Wong

My book for Type I in school was A Type Primer


My professor graduated from RISD and did some work for Major League Baseball, amongst other major organizations, and he swore by this book for his Type students (he made the class as rigorous as humanly possible).


I still refer back to it often.