Customer Reviews

Designing with Type: A Basic Course in Typography (Fourth

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a professor teaching typography to beginning graphic design students,I find this book well organized and covering all the important aspects of designing with type. This book,if properly used, will give the student of type design a head start on understanding the page layout applications when they start working on the computer. I applaud James Craig for all the thought and organization that he put into this book. For all of you interested in type and type design, rush to buy this book.

Designing With Type is an excellent introduction to the art of typography. Any student of graphic design should have this book in his/her library. The book is spiral bound which makes it easy to lay flat and examine the many examples of typefaces given.

One of the most valuable aspects of the book is how it takes 5 classic typefaces (Garamond, Baskerville, Bodoni, Century Expanded and Helvetica) and gives examples of each typeface in a large range of point sizes and leadings. Typography owes as much to visual measurement as it does to mechanical measurement. The reader is shown first hand what how the interplay between point size, leading and line length work to make a text readable (or not readable!).

The reader cannot help but come away from reading this book having a firm foundation in typographic skills on which to build their own design abilities.

This book is generally just the basics of Typography... which is good if you are learning on your own, but if a professor recommends this for a class, borrow it from someone else. You will get exactly out of the book what you get from your Typography lectures.

I am a second year Communication Design student at a prestigious (pretentious) art school in New York City. This year marks my first foray into typography, and this book was the first recommendation on my to-buy list.

Anyone who is at least vaguely familiar with the concept of typography knows that most type enthusiasts range from "I didn't realize there was that much involved" to "Oh my god, you even named your child after a typeface." (I didn't know that's what they meant by "font family.") But seriously, folks: for those not yet versed in the trials and tribulations contained within passionate pursuit of the perfect sans-serif, typography can be very intimidating.

When I bought DWT 5 -- because I had to, remember -- I expected a tome comparable to the tedious scrolls of a monastery scribe; typography was to be my new religion and I was ok with that. Thankfully, that's not how my experience with DWT played out at all.

First of all, it's actually a book, complete with pleasing cover that isn't obnoxiously heavy and is able to withstand backpack fare. It's solid and smooth and looks good on my shelf -- apparently an improvement over earlier editions. But this is hardly the reason for my enthusiastic review.

The truth of the matter is, the "hands-on" way this book approaches the art of teaching typography is beyond superb. In fact, it's so superb, it makes me want to jump into a rambling anecdote -- so bear with me.

I once had a beyond awful chemistry teacher. Awful because he was dryer than a saltine and refused to get off his wrinkly behind to put some damn liquid over a Bunsen and show us the magic of the science. Don't get me wrong here -- chemistry is and should be treated with academic respect and precision. It is surely a very "logical" subject, in that the math-based reasoning behind the formulas and the calculations and the diagrams and the nomenclature is all very structured. But the propensity by which one can dive into the circuitous lexicon of chemical confoundry makes it easy to forget that a chemist is actually dealing with the stuff that makes up our physical world. Being a visual person, it would kill me to sit for an entire hour and a half doing worksheets and readings and spar in lofty conversations without doing so much as one experiment to demonstrate. I mean, it was pretty simple -- I wanted to SEE what the hell it was we were talking about. And sure enough, when we WOULD actually do an experiment, I was able to link the lofty ideas with the visual responses, and it would all be clear as day.

This is the hands-on approach I describe as being taken on by DWT. Craig makes no mistake in realizing that typography IS the book, and uses this to his advantage by creating ACTUAL TYPOGRAPHIC EXAMPLES to explain the principles of type. It's one thing to be told that Bodoni is much easier to read because of its simplified serifs, but to actually SEE Bodoni set in multiple iterations makes the difference between remembering and absorbing. It's as if Craig is stopping in the middle of his lecture, walking over to you, and drawing for you on your paper exactly what he means. Not to mention he does it in a clear and simple layout that it probably unique to edition 5.

I was ready to dread my typography readings, expecting them to be a series of formulas. Now I look forward to seeing all the neat explosions and chemical reactions, and to wondering how I'll fit them into my next layout. But don't go too fast with it Craig, take it slow -- this is introductory level, after all, and I'm not ready to put Helvetica on the birth certificate yet.

This is the new fifth edition of this classic book on typography that first began in 1971. Since then it has become a standard of the industry. It's real strength is how it describes fonts from the standpoint of conveying feeling, readability, aspects of fonts that you wouldn't normally think about.

Type is an important part of graphics art. It is likely that in most projects type is what covers most of the page. Through the use of the proper type face, size, and special effects type can be used to assist in the conveyance of information which is what graphics art is all about.

This book has been around for some thirty-five years. It is the standard text in design schools around the world. For this fifth edition it has been redesigned, printed in full color and had much new material added without omitting features that have made the book such a valuable tool.

As a graphic design student, I've read numerous books about typography. This book is excellent for a person who's interested in knowing the basics of type and more. However, there is better books out there than this. I recommend the book "A Typographic Workbook" by Kate Clair. Designing with Type really shouldnt be used as a textbook simply because it doesnt cover nearly as much information. If you don't mind spending the extra ... look elsewhere!

I have used this book for a number of years, along with a number of other books on typography, as primary reading for my Typography 1 class that I teach at a design school. It is an excellent resource for the student who is just starting out and learning the fundamentals of design.

This new edition (5) is a great textbook for the beginning typography class; thorough, well-written and illustrated, highlighting the most important things a beginning designer must know. It is very engaging and easy to read. Students will benefit greatly not only from using the book in class, but having it in their design library for the future. Professors will find it a great resource, along with it's wonderful companion website, which contains a vast resource of lecture material, visual samples, links and project assignments with examples of student work.

Many people think they understand type because they can make a page look pretty good with Word or Quark. Until you read Mr. Craig's book-- Designing With Type, you don't know what you're missing. You'll learn all the fundamentals and will be hooked on creating great type before long. Definitely a keeper!

James Craig's book "Designing with Type" and companion website proved to be a valuable resource to me this past semester. I have been developing a sequence of graphic design classes moving from "Intro" through "4" level. "Designing with Type" helped me structure the "GD 1" level around typography in a way that both addressed valuable typographic history and allowed for creative opportunities to begin a portfolio. My students were engaged and inspired by the great selection of student work available both in the book and on the website. The handouts were brief and needed adjustment for my particular class's needs, but the concepts were clear, progressive and consistent. My class was challenged and motivated, and I have found enough material to move into a second semester of "GD 2". Focusing on typography in a categorical way at the "GD1" level has helped bring type into students' conscious designing rather than see it as purely decorative. Thanks for the book and the website,
Reed Simon
Assistant Professor, Art
Notre Dame College