Texts on Type: Critical Writings on Typography
- Book Review,
by Steven Heller (Editor)
Book Description
When Transforming Words Into Print Becomes a Passion Color'em, distort'em, move'em: changing fonts on a computer screen is almost as easy and fun as playing with a set of rubber stamps. And yet, creating and choosing type is an art that not only requires artistic skills, but a deep understanding of the many ways type is rooted in the communication patterns of our times. In "Texts on Type: Critical Writings on Typography," acclaimed design authors Steven Heller and Philip B. Meggs open a window into the secret universe of present and past typography. "Texts on Type" is an unprecedented opportunity to discover some of the most brilliant and sparkling minds of 20th century type design and typography. In fifty thought-provoking essays, readers encounter the evangelists and critics of a craft whose aesthetic frontiers have always been negotiated with unsurpassed fervor, from W.A. Dwiggins, Herman Zapf, and Paul Rand to the front-runners of contemporary typography. Practitioners of type and typophiles will perceive this craft with new eyes as they learn about the groundbreaking technological, aesthetic, and cultural changes that have propelled typography from a rarified, secluded craft into a dynamic activity practiced by millions. The fifty essays cover topics such as * Principals of designing and choosing the right typeface
* The Modernism versus Tradition debate
* The relationship between type form and expression
* The anatomy of typefaces across the 20th century
* Aesthetical reflections from classics to electronic and dynamic typography
From the Publisher
No designer can ignore the principles of typography, and yet there is hardly any class that provides students with a solid groundwork for it. "Texts on Type" is a powerful springboard for everybody seriously involved in typography, whether from the motion picture, book publishing or fine arts arenas. From typographic conventions and aesthetic standards to the imperatives of legibility and readability, this ingenious reader provides students and professionals alike with the historical and technical framework for great typography.
About the Author
Steven Heller, art director of The New York Times Book Review, editor of the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design, and co-chair of the graduate design program at the School of Visual Arts, is the author of Design Connoisseur, The Swastika, Design Literacy, and numerous other books on graphic design. He lives in New York. philip b. meggs, the author of A History of Graphic Design, teaches graphic design history at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
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