Designing with Type: The Essential Guide to Typography (Paperback)

~ (Author), William Bevington (Author), Irene Korol Scala (Author) "The art of designing with type began in the West around 1455 when Johannes Gutenberg perfected the craft of printing from individual pieces of type..." (more)
Key Phrases: very readable typeface, thick slab serifs, little makes reading, Century Expanded, Type Designing, Max Miedinger (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Part textbook and part reference work, the fifth edition of a typographic classic begins with a thumbnail history of the development of written language and ends with a glossary; in between are in-depth looks at five classic typefaces, lessons on designing with text type, display type and color, and plenty of project assignments. Though Craig, the former design director for Watson-Guptill, touches on the way that type design can be akin to fine art, most of his focus is on the subtle ways in which typeface affects "mood," and letter shape and spacing influences readability, emphasis and even meaning. Even though technological advances have made innovative text design ever simpler, readers—of books, brochures, cereal boxes and subway advertisements—still tend to prefer their type to be "invisible"—in other words, "to serve as a quiet vehicle for enhancing the meaning of a text." While best suited for a beginning graphic design student, this clear, readable book should also intrigue those interested in how the look of a sentence has an impact on the way we read it. 100 color and 500+ b&w illus. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"An excellent and useful introduction to the subject." - Milton Glaser"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill; 5 edition (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823014134
• ISBN-13: 978-0823014132
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,196 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #11 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Design & Decorative Arts > Graphic Design > Typography
  #80 in	Books > Reference > Publishing & Books
  #89 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid introduction, September 7, 2004

By	Alfta "Golden Boar Creations www.goldenboar.com" (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Designing with Type: A Basic Course in Typography (Fourth (Spiral-bound)

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.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a really good, basic typograpgy book., October 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Designing with Type: A Basic Course in Typography (Paperback)

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.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A concise, well thought out and easily understood typography text book, February 24, 2006

By	C. Van Horn (Glen Head, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Designing with Type: A Basic Course in Typography (Fourth (Spiral-bound)

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.