Indie Fonts: A Compendium of Digital Type from Independent Foundries [Hardcover]

Richard Kegler (Editor), James Grieshaber (Editor), Tamye Riggs (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2005

If you're searching for a font that goes beyond ho-hum, this book is for you. Today's computers provide a selection of fonts that serve reasonably well for workaday letters and publications, but have become utterly boring from overuse. If you want your project to attract the reader's attention, you need an original font.

Indie Fonts provides a showcase collection of over 1600 diverse fonts from today's hottest digital type foundries and features the best work of these designers. Indie Fonts will help readers find some of the highest quality fonts available today.

The type styles range from the best of Matthew Carter's classic designs to the latest irreverence of ingoFonts. Designers searching for unique typefaces will find what they are looking for, whether historical revivals or futuristic techno faces.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

P22 type foundry creates computer typefaces inspired by Art, History, and Science. P22 is renowned for its work with museums and foundations to ensure the development of accurate historical typefaces that are fully relevant for today's computer user. In addition to its in-house font design, P22 now licenses several new type designs from around the world. Finally, we're sure you agree that no type foundry is complete without its own record label.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Rockport Publishers (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592531237
• ISBN-13: 978-1592531233
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,469,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tamye Riggs is a writer, designer, editor, and event planner specializing in typography and the related arts. She is the Executive Director of The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA), which organizes TypeCon annually. Tamye has worked in creative, marketing, and management areas for Maryland-based Phil's Fonts/GarageFonts, and FontShop San Francisco, where she edits Font magazine; she also freelances for a number of other foundries and type distributors. Tamye is co-editor of SOTA's publication Interrobang, and writes for design publications, including HOW and Computer Arts. Tamye has edited a number of books on type and motion graphics, including the Indie Fonts series with Richard Kegler and James Grieshaber. A native of Oregon, Tamye now lives and works on the island of Alameda, just across the bay from San Francisco.

If there is one experience that any graphic designer can relate to, it's the quest for the perfect typeface. The right typeface communicates the visual essence of the content while enhancing the impact of the overall design. The dozens of type samplers available are often more confusing than helpful, offering hundreds of choices but little guidance. Typeface: Classic Typography for Contemporary Design is a unique sourcebook featuring sixty classic typefaces that continue to resonate with today's most influential graphic designers. The book is organized using typographic classifications such as sans serif, serif, display, script, and dingbats. Each typeface is presented in detail, including its origin, main characteristics, and uses. The main character set of each type specimen is accompanied by typesheet style examples including technical specifications and non-Latin characters.

In addition, Typeface includes a unique feature certain to delight designers: a choice of similar typefaces is given for each font, so that alternatives can be easily compared, taking the stress out of tracking down typefaces. Characteristics such as vertically stressed oblique serifs or abrupt contrasts are highlighted and easily cross-referenced, allowing designers to make educated type choices without having to trawl through the seemingly endless pages of type vendor libraries. Accompanying the main character sets and typesheets are examples of the typefaces in use. Leading practitioners such as Pentagram, karlssonwilker inc., and Why Not Associates provide a working context for each typeface, making Typeface both a fully functional sourcebook and an inspirational showcase of international typographic design.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is great! 0 Stars for Amazon though... Consider Yourself Warned!, January 28, 2006

By 

J. Gray (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Indie Fonts: A Compendium of Digital Type from Independent Foundries (Hardcover)

I bought this book from Amazon thinking that I'd have better luck than the Oct. 2005 shopper... Boy was I wrong! Not only is the book all broken in/cover torn & scratched... the CD IS MISSING!!! That's part of the reason I bought this book. I purchased this book "brand new" from Amazon (triple-checked my receipt to confirm).

The book itself is great, but please do yourself a favor and DO NOT buy this book from Amazon--you'll be thoroughly disappointed.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible!, January 7, 2009

By 

Blue Light "RC" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indie Fonts: A Compendium of Digital Type from Independent Foundries (Paperback)

Bought this book for a friend who's in the graphic design business; all this book does is show you a bunch of fonts on paper, you still have to purchase the fonts through seperate vendors. TOTAL RIP OFF!!!!!!