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A deep understanding of letterforms and knowledge of their effective use can only be obtained with constant observation and experimentation; it evolves over a lifetime of design practice and study. This comprehensive guide is intended to advance the progress of designers seeking to deepen their typographic expertise. Typography Essentials is a practical, hands-on resource to distill, organize, and compartmentalize—but not to oversimplify—the many complex issues surrounding the effective use of typography. It is for designers of every medium in which type plays a major role, and is organized and designed to make the process enjoyable and entertaining, as well as instructional.
This book is divided into four easy-to-use sections: The Letter, The Word, The Paragraph, and The Page. Each of the 100 principles has an explanation and examples representing the principle in action.
Ina Saltz is an art director, designer, writer, photographer and professor (of Electronic Design and Multimedia at The City College of New York) whose areas of expertise are typography and magazine design. For over 22 years, Ina was an editorial design director at Time Magazine (International Editions), Worth Magazine, and other magazines including Golf Magazine, Golf for Women Magazine, and Worldbusiness Magazine. Ina frequently lectures on topics related to magazine design and typography, including Toronto, Atlanta, Denver, Moscow, Amsterdam and Calgary. She lives with her husband in New York City.
Ina Saltz is an art director, designer, author, photographer and Professor of Art at The City College of New York whose areas of expertise are typography and magazine design. She has written over 50 articles on typography and design, and in 2013, Ina became a lynda.com author: her newest course is "Foundations of Typography."
Ina's third book, "Body Type 2: More Typographic Tattoos," was published in 2010 by Abrams Image. "Typography Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Working with Type," was published by Rockport Press in 2009. Ina's first book, "Body Type: Intimate Messages Etched in Flesh," was published by Abrams Image in 2006.
Ina is a co-author of "Typography Referenced: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to the Language, History, and Practice of Typography, published in 2012 by Rockport Press. It was named one of the top 11 reference books of 2012 across all subjects by the American Library Association.
Please visit her website at www.bodytypebook.com, and check out her typography tutorial at lynda.com.
In 2012, fifteen of Ina's essays on typography and logotypes were published by Phaidon Press in "The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design." Her work has also appeared in "Handwritten," (2007) edited by Steve Heller; "100 Habits of Successful Publication Designers," (2008) by Laurel Saville; "Design Disasters: Great Designers, Fabulous Failures, and Lessons Learned," (2008) edited by Steve Heller; and "The Education of an Art Director," (2005) edited by Steve Heller and Veronique Vienne.
In 2006, a solo show of her photographs from "Body Type" appeared at Cooper Union's Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography and in 2007, at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center's Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art.
Ina was the Design Director at Time Magazine (International Editions), Worth Magazine, and other magazines including Golf Magazine, Golf for Women Magazine, and Worldbusiness Magazine; she has consulted at Business Week and Consumer Reports. With her occasional collaborator, Donald Partyka, Ina designed a prototype for a new magazine for "policy wonks" called "The Americas Quarterly," for the Council of the Americas; AQ launched in 2007.
Ina is on the design faculty of the Stanford Publishing Course, and she has also taught "virtually" for Stanford via webcast. Ina frequently lectures on topics related to magazine design and typography, including, most recently, in Toronto, Atlanta, Denver, San Jose, Moscow, Calgary and Amsterdam.
Ina was one of the first art directors to work on a computer in 1981 at Time Inc's Teletext Project, a precursor of the web.
Ina received a BFA from Cooper Union in New York City; her lifelong love of letterforms intensified there when she studied calligraphy with Don Kunz. Among her calligraphic teachers and mentors are Hermann Zapf and Donald Jackson.
Ina has chaired, co-chaired and judged numerous design, typography and photography competitions: the National Magazine Awards, AIGA, the Society of Publication Designers, and the Type Directors Club, the Ozzies, the City and Regional Magazine Association, and others. She is currently on the boards of the SPD and the TDC.
You can never learn too much about typography. When designers ask me what I recommend for them to improve their craft, I always tell them to study type, take a type class, or buy a type book. Now thanks to Ina Saltz, all I have to do is tell them to buy a copy of Typography Essentials. So many books deal with either the form or function of typography; this one fuses both perfectly. With its elegant system of presentation and organization, strong visual examples, and a sense of both art and science, Typography Essentials is the one book that no graphic designer should be without. It's just that good. Most importantly, it's typography for the working designer, type meant to work, to inform, to engage, to function. Get a copy of this book for yourself immediately, and give one as a holiday present to your favorite art director.
About me: I've been a publication art director for 30 years, have art directed Entertainment Weekly, Fortune, Real Simple, Vibe, New York, Details, and many more.
If essential means containing the essence, then the title of this book captures its content. Typography Essentials does more than communicate the principles that are absolutely necessary to the creation of attractive and readable text. It illustrates them with exceptional contemporary examples. From stalwarts like The New York Times to supermarket check-out magazines, and from wine bottle labels to a book on tantric sex, the author presents effective and eye-catching uses of type.
Not just for beginners, this manual informs anyone who uses type for any purpose. I have been working with type for fifty years, and was riveted by some of the notions that are presented. More exciting for me than the examples that follow the rules are the successful ones that break them. It has already changed the way I look at a page. This book has 100 clearly defined subject headings like "Properly Weighted Small caps and Fractions" and suggestive ones like "Chaos Versus Order." Each delivers a concise, easy to understand conceptual message, and the superb specimens make it impossible to miss the point.
Typography Essentials should sit on your shelf next to Robert Bringhurst's classic, The Elements of Typographic Style.
Typography Essentials is a must-have companion for anyone who cares about type--from the experienced pro to the beginning student. The book is cleverly organized by the myriad of ways one can think about letterforms accompanied by eye-stopping current examples to prove it. The text is smooth and clear with insightful thoughts on how to use type to solve graphic problems.
Typographic Principles is a contemporary, well-organized and approachable overview of the art and craft of typography. It covers not only the fundamentals, but also the rule-breaking paradoxes that show how designing with type can be exciting, innovative and current. Ina Saltz' book is a survey of the best in modern typography. The colorful and diverse examples are organized not just by designer or typeface, but, more importantly, by how the designers approach typography and use the principles of type design to illuminate their ideas. This book not just "tells" but "shows"--something often missing from other typography volumes. Typography Essentials is a highly recommended edition to your type library for either the novice or the professional looking for inspiration.
A reference book should not be vague. Page 142 explains widows and orphans (poorly). This situation and rule have been a source of confusion for designers and typographers everywhere. This book should serve to clear up the confusion and not create more of it. Author needs to research this. Please consult Robert Bringhurst, "Elements of Typographic Style" pgs. 42-44. This explains widows and orphans in a most sensible way, and also explains that short lines (less than seven words) are merely short lines. They don't constitute widows or orphans. A widow can also be a short line (runt).
I have not read much of this text, so I cannot judge fully, however, this is enough for me. The error emphasizes the lack of research and effort to present accurate information. I am very disappointed.
I'm incredibly happy with the book - I recommend it to anyone interested in type or graphic design. I'm just disappointed because the book I ordered looks as though it was stepped on at some point.. Some of the later pages have crumpled-up marks in the corners. Mostly happy, just a little disappointed as far as that goes.
