“Typography is what language looks like”
by Ellen Lupton.
In this book titled – Thinking with Type – the author – Ellen Lupton has brought together the essential elements of typography. Arranging them beautifully, Lupton has succeeded in making the reader understand the very essence of Typography in an effortless manner. To take away the monotony, the author has added interesting nerd alerts in almost every page incorporating numerous trivial additions for engaging the reader and making them more seasoned with finer typographic details.
This elegantly designed book is broadly divided into Letter-Text-Grid with rich details of the classic text and its contemporary variations. She has gone into detail of addressing (i) historic perspective of typeface, (ii) evolution of letterpress, (iii) early examples of the wooden and the movable type printing from the Gutenberg era. Sprinkled with many interesting facts as how italics started from Italy and how European printing techniques revolutionized writing in the west, the book open ups a bygone era of Printing when scribes were handwritten and books were reproduced by hand.
The book also includes a composite guide to the Basics and Advanced aspects of Typography. Type Anatomy, Size, Scale, Classifications, Families, Numerals, Lettering, Typeface Design, Line spacing, Alignments, Grids, Columns, Margins, Sections … Every possible typographic detail has been duly addressed by the author. What is even more interesting – to take care of special needs of editors – Lupton has incorporated a special section on Proof Reading and Editing hard and soft copies.
To summarize it, this book is an essential reading for any type enthusiast and student and is a great value addition to your library. Typography is the visual component of the written word. The style, size and arrangement of the letters.
About the Author: Ellen Lupton is one of America’s preeminent design authors and educators. Her books include Indie Publishing, D.I.Y Design It Yourself, Graphic Design: The New Basics and many others. She is curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York, and Director of the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute of College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. To know more about Typography please visit her website here.
Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2nd Edition, 2010, Paperback 224 Pages