This is a well-structured and well-written text with refreshing examples from a wide range of designers. These examples reinforce the concept that successful design and typography come from critical thinking and that there is no one style or approach that is “correct”. Lupton (graphic design, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore; Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York) offers practical information about type within a context of design history and theory in a text that reflects the diversity of typographic life, past and present.
Through three sections on letter, text, and grid, the volume begins with an exploration of the basic letter forms, and builds to the organization of words into coherent bodies and flexible systems. Each section opens with a narrative essay about the cultural and theoretical issues of typographic design across a range of media, followed by example pages demonstrating how and why typography is structured as it is.
This book is probably too basic for seasoned designers, but if you just bought a copy of InDesign, or you’re working in a corporate communications department and expected to create some basic layouts, you will take away a lot of good ideas and principles from this book. It covers off on many of the principles of good design without leaving you feeling overwhelmed.
About Author:
Ellen Lupton is one of America’s preeminent design educators. Her books include Skin , Inside Design Now , and Mixing Messages , among others. She is currently director of the design program at Maryland Institute of Art and Design.
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