Exploring Typography

by Rabinowitz, Tova

• ISBN13: 9781401815059
• ISBN10: 1401815057
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-21
• Publisher: Cengage Learning Ptr

Summary

What do designers need to know about typography? The answer can be found in this richly illustrated book that examines the varied uses of type in contemporary visual communications. Exploring Typography takes a concise but thorough approach to introducing and examining the principles of typography. Coverage begins with a brief history of type and a survey of how type is classified. Readers then learn about the physical components of letters and the rules of legibility, readability, and style. Subsequent chapters survey the creative use of emphasis, designing effective layouts, using grids, and developing original type styles. Finally, the author examines contemporary challenges in type while introducing terminology and concepts relevant to designing with type in a digital environment.

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
History of Type	2	(46)
An overview of the history of type, tracing the development and use of type from its earliest beginnings in prehistoric times to the present.
Physical Attributes of Type	48	(22)
A discussion of the physical qualities that make each typeface unique, addressing the structural elements that are used to build letterforms, type measurement, and typographic terminology.
Type Family Classification	70	(102)
An explanation of the strategy and methods used in classifying type into type families, including an extensive collection of historically significant type specimens.
Legibility and Readability	172	(26)
An examination of the factors that can affect the legibility and the readability of a design, with emphasis on how designers can improve communication by manipulating controllable factors to cater to the user's experience and physiology.
Layout Design Aspects	198	(34)
An examination of the relationship between form and content in the layout of designs, addressing the Laws of Gestalt, as well as concepts of visual hierarchy, emphasis, and reading gravity as tools for creating effective layouts.
Using Grids	232	(20)
A discussion of the use and applications of the grid as a tool for bringing consistency to multipage documents and layouts and for facilitating the design process.
Type in a Digital Environment	252	(32)
An exploration of issues that are specific to type in a digital environment, including font formats, display resolution, and legibility and readability issues as they pertain to screen typography.
Designing Type	284	(54)
An excursion through the process of designing an original font, including tips that can help readers undertake the challenge of type design in an organized fashion.
Creative Uses of Type	338	(48)
A survey and analysis of recent designs in which type has been used uniquely and successfully, focusing on how the typographic standards that were established in previous chapters have been followed, and broken, to create designs that are both innovative and effective.
Glossary	386	(6)
Selected Bibliography	392	(10)
List of Contributors	402	(6)
Index	408