Just My Type A Book About Fonts

by Garfield, Simon

• ISBN13: 9781592407460
• ISBN10: 1592407463
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-04
• Publisher: Gotham

Summary

A delightfully inquisitive tour that explores the rich history and the subtle powers of fonts. Fonts surround us every day, on street signs and buildings, on movie posters and books, and on just about every product that we buy. But where do fonts come from and why do we need so many? Who is behind the businesslike subtlety of Times New Roman, the cool detachment of Arial, or the maddening lightness of Comic Sans (and the movement to ban it)? Simon Garfield embarks on a mission to answer these questions and more, and reveal what may be the very best and worst fonts in the world. Typefaces are now 560 years old, but we barely knew their names until about twenty years ago, when the pull-down font menus on our first computers made us all the gods of type. Beginning in the early days of Gutenberg and ending with the most adventurous digital fonts, Garfield unravels our age old obsession with the way our words look. Just My Typeinvestigates a range of modern mysteries, including how Helvetica took over the world, what inspires the seemingly ubiquitous use of Trajan on bad movie posters, and what makes a font look presidential, male or female, American, British, German, or Jewish. From the typeface of Beatlemania to the graphic vision of the Obama campaign, fonts can signal a musical revolution or the rise of an American president. This book is a must-read for the design conscious that will forever change the way you look at the printed word.

Author Biography

Simon Garfield is the author of twelve acclaimed books of nonfiction. He lives in London and St. Ives, Cornwall, and currently has a soft spot for Requiem Fine Roman and HT Galeria.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xii
Introduction: Love Letters	p. 1
Periodic Table of Typefaces	p. 6-7
We don't serve your type	p. 9
Capital Offence	p. 22
Gill Sans	p. 41
Legibility vs Readability	p. 45
Albertus	p. 62
Can a font make me popular?	p. 65
Futura v Verdana	p. 73
The Hands of Unlettered Men	p. 77
Doves	p. 84
The Ampersand's Final Twist	p. 89
Baskerville is Dead (Long Live Baskerville)	p. 97
Mrs Eaves & Mr Eaves	p. 106
Tunnel Visions	p. 109
What is it about the Swiss?	p. 124
Frutiger	p. 139
Road Akzidenz	p. 143
DIY	p. 158
What the Font?	p. 172
Can a font be German, or Jewish?	p. 180
Futura	p. 193
American Scottish	p. 196
Moderns, Egyptians and Fat Faces	p. 204
Gotham is Go	p. 208
Pirates and Clones	p. 220
Optima	p. 233
The Clamour from the Past	p. 235
Sabon	p. 251
Breaking the Rules	p. 254
The Interrobang	p. 268
The Serif of Liverpool	p. 270
Vendôme	p. 284
Fox, Gloves	p. 286
The Worst Fonts in the World	p. 296
Just My Type	p. 313
Bibliography	p. 333
Online	p. 337
Acknowledgements	p. 339
Font and image credits	p. 343
Index	p. 345
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.