Typography Now: The Next Wave [Paperback]

Rick Poynor (Author), Edward Booth-Clibborn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Typography is the key issue in British graphic design circles. This paperback edition presents a survey of the significant trends and fresh typographic thinking made possible by current typesetting technology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Booth-Clibborn; 9th edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1873968426
• ISBN-13: 978-1873968420
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,760,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it!, March 28, 2001

By 

M. Zafir "zafiro" (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Typography Now: The Next Wave (Paperback)

This book is basically a guide to "new experimental typography". A bit of intro by the author and the rest are just pictures. But don't get me wrong. I know I said it casually but after viewing (I can't say reading when it comes to pictures, can I?) the content of this book, my head almost burst! So many ideas suddenly popped up!

This book however does not teach you how to create great designs, or how great designs are created. It doesn't tell you the rules of typography etc. All it does is showing you the designs related to typography by some designers. If you're looking for ideas, this is the book for you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dated but thought-provoking, March 29, 2009

By 

Nora Brown "Nora Brown Design" (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Typography Now: The Next Wave (Paperback)

Rick Poyner, one of the editors of this book, was prescient when he wrote in the introduction: "Some [of these works] will stand the test of time; others will prove to have been representative of their period, but of no greater significance." In fact, the majority of items in the book fall into the latter category.

Though it seems somewhat counter-intuitive, the use of computers in design and typography (quite new in the early 90's, when this book was published) allowed these designers to create works with less precision, more randomness, and more expression than preceding methods. Thus, many of these works read like the result of someone playing with a new tool and taking it to its extreme. You'll find total illegibility, warped type, layers of type, type in extreme sizes and crazy directions, much of which looks highly stylized and dated. Interestingly, most of the works are for non-commercial use, like posters for design schools, art exhibitions, musical performances, etc.

This book is worth having for a few reasons. One, there are some interesting pieces that stand out from the rest and will spark ideas. Two, the designs serve to remind us that just because you CAN make a piece of text jagged, cluttered, and obscure doesn't mean you should. Three, it will get you thinking about the place of the designer/typographer/graphic artist.

These folks (or some of them anyway) were arguing that the designer is not just an arranger of content, but an interpreter of it. They claimed (to me contradictorily) that "the aim is to promote multiple rather than fixed readings" but also that "designers must be able to function as visual editors who can bring acute perception to their readings of the text." How can the designer promote multiple readings while also developing and promoting his/her own? In hindsight, these arguments read like justification for their play and experimentation with type. In any case, this perspective on the role of the designer is interesting to consider, especially applied to web design, where the focus is so often on user-centric design.