Amazon.com Review
Another entry in the Web Site Graphics series,
Typography: The Best Work from the Web features Web sites that outshine others in their use of type. "Each site draws some advantage from or is designed for the Web, and takes into account the special requirements needed to render or display type in a small, scrollable, and live window."
It's not surprising that many of the typographically outstanding sites shown here are from design firms. For example, Cow.Interactive Communications (www.cow.com) is an interactive design firm whose Web site shows a creative yet spare use of a single typeface with small, interactive lines of text, simple images, and blocks of color. Studiomotiv (www.studiomotiv.com) shows off the beauty of classic letterforms even while it informs viewers of the history and anatomy of type design.
Typography also celebrates sites that run counter to accepted notions of "good typography." Typographic.com (www.typographic.com) pushes the envelope of readability with its postmodern deconstructed text and navigational scheme, almost daring the viewer to persevere through the site. Bianca (www.bianca.com), an online community, takes another "anti-typography" route by using naive handwriting for headings and a site map that looks like a child's drawing.
Typography is not a how-to book. As with the others in this series, it shows, using ample color illustrations, a few of the best in Web design, chosen by the knowledgeable and discriminating authors. It's the quickest way to find out what's on the cutting edge. --Angelynn Grant
Topics covered: screen captures of many Web sites showing innovative uses of typography in Web design, with captions explaining why each site was chosen and listing artistic credits; an index with the names and addresses of all design firms involved.
About the Author
Jeff Carlson spent several years doing desktop publishing before jumping into the Web publishing arena by founding and editing, eSCENE, the Internet's only yearly anthology of the best short fiction appearing on the Web. Jeff has published articles in HOW Magazine, Macworld, and Adobe Magazine, and was a contibuting editor and columnist for Adobe's online venture, adobe.mag. In addition to writing and editing, he's an accomplished Web designer and consultant through his company Never Enough Coffee creations. www.necoffee.com
For the past ten years, Toby Malina has worked for Thunder Lizard Productions and also independently as a graphic designer and Macintosh consultant. Her multi-faceted roles have included art director, production artist, MIS manager, software/systems trainer, and mental health professional. Her greatest triumph: wrenching a motherboard from the jaws of a client's basset hound and successfully reseating it.
Glenn Fleishman has written about technology and its use in several publications, including InfoWorld and NetGuide. He was a founding contributing editor and columnist for the print edition of Web Developer, and is a contributing editor and columnist for Adobe Magazine, where he writes the Web Watcher column. He works as a consultant, conference chair, writer, and itinerant perl programmer, and recently co-authored the second edition of Real World Scanning and Halftones. www.glenns.org
