Typographers Books

I had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to go through the Communication Arts & Design program at VCU with Phil as illustration instructor, and student advisor.

This book, about the life and times of Phil Meggs is essential reading for all graphic designers and artists whether you knew Phil or not. It follows a time line up to his death, showing sketch books, projects and designs by Phil, giving a glimpse of this truly gifted designer -- while providing any creative visual communicator a recipe for gathering, digesting and interpreting visuals -- a creative shot in the arm to say the least.

The rememberances of those last months, written by Libby Meggs (Phil's wife) noted illustrator in her own right, brought tears to my eyes.

Bottom line: the graphic designer, illustrator or visual communicator now has a detailed map on how to get where they want to go -- creatively. And for me, when faced with difficult design projects, I finally have the answer to the question: "What would Phil Meggs do"

This book is in the number ONE spot for nomination for "BOOK OF THE YEAR" at www.Design-Bookshelf.com and DTG Magazine. And that recommendation says it all.

Just buy it.

If you were fortunate enough to have been taught by Phil Meggs or perhaps you had a professor that used A History of Graphic Design in class, then you must own this book.

It's beautiful and touching. I will treasure it always with my fond memories of Professor Meggs.

Great book. was bought for a present and they loved it so much. Thank you. i highly recommend.

Jan Tschichold, Designer: The Penguin Years is a seminal and impressive contribution to the history of publishing with its focus on Jan Tschichold and his influence with respect to the typographic revolution that was applied to Penguin's mass production of books for the general populace. Author Richard B. Doubleday (Assistant Professor of Art, Department of Graphic Design, College of Fine Arts, Boston University) brings a special research-based expertise to providing an historical and analytical survey of Tschichold's contributions during the mid to late 1940s that saw the emergence of a wide ranging Penguin Book Series that included both fiction and non-fiction. Many of Tschichold's preliminary hand drawn cover and title page designs are made public for the first time in order to demonstrate and document his meticulous attention to detail and the development of his `New Typography'. Enhanced with the inclusion of an extensive bibliography on Tschichold's writings and historical appendices of his inter-office memoranda and texts, "Jan Tschichold, Designer" is a significant addition to academic library collections on the history of publishing, and an especially recommended for students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in typography, book design, and the publishing industry.

The contemporary technologies gave new possibilities to train students in journalism using such books. Specialy it is important for freshmen. Knowledge of the technology which is described in the book, parlicularly QuarkXpress for the Macintosh, is necessary for competence in teaching students in journalism. The book is organized so well that difficult items clear for understanding. Such books are useful very much for teachers and students in journalism and mass communication.

I discovered this book almost a year ago, and wanted it instantly. Only the price stopped me from purchasing it then and there. The seller's price for the new book was unbeatable, and though the shipping was a little slow (expedited wasn't available), the book fulfilled all of my expectations. It was an incredible purchase.

I'm a little biased because i am in the book. but it really is something i pick up at least once a week and page through. pops off the shelf. Mike did an awesome job curating this book and all of us in it, owe him many thanks. plus, the title is simply classic.

I bought this book and it truly is awesome. I immediately embraced the hand drawn medium. I was lucky enough to have an appropriate project. When I brought it into work (I work at a Vegas ad agency) I learned a fellow designer had his copy stolen. The more resources the better, you'll want your own copy of this, but stealing books or ideas is just wrong. Buy this sucker!

Great book. I'm a lover of typeface and bought it because it was inspiring to look at. Everyone picks it up off the coffee table when they come over...the title intrigues and they are then transported into the artistic world of cool typeface and imagery...

I was really looking forward to receiving this book. It arrived and I opened it on the best design. There are a couple of real gems in there, but there is a big gap between these gems (Adam Haye, Jose Ricardo Cabral Cabacos, A.J. Purdy and Luke Ramsey) and the rest.

To those who wants to know more about typography, this book teaches you enough required knowledge so you can study more advanced subjects. It offers a brief but useful introduction on the history of typography. I'll recommend this book to anyone who is interested in typography.

I have reviewed and ordered this book as a text for my Typography students. It is very encompassing and thorough, providing many examples of typefaces and type usage. I probably would have given this review 5 stars if this was not the same publication that appeared in 1992. This book is worth keeping refreshed. The authors have gone to great lengths to provide excellent "contemporary" examples, so after 8 years it is time to address the issue of contemporary. Still, it is the best I could find out of many, and have adopted it for my course.

My seven year old daughter loves this and just did a book report on it. An interesting, somewhat complex storyline with magnificant illustrations throughout. There are definitely religious themes herein, all within the historical context of medieval Sweden. Higly recomended.

This is a Swedish legend that explains the origin of the flower known as the Christmas Rose. Lagerlöf was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature in 1909. This legend, retold by Ellin Greene, originally appeared in a magazine in 1907. The illustrations are beautiful. They capture the emotions of the characters splendidly. The story is not too long for advanced second graders to read in a single sit-ting. Younger children will be able to listen to it. Several times however the layout alternates from a two-page spread of text to a two-page illustration. The text pages can appear overwhelming for young readers, and because there is not an illustration on every page, it can be cumbersome to use in a read-aloud. The story does, of course, have a mention of the Christ Child and central characters include a Bishop, Abbot and lay priest. There is no attempt to influence the reader on behalf of the Christian faith however. Still, it may create some difficulties in a public school classroom. A well-written and illustrated legend, it is a shame the design features make it less appealing and it may create some trouble in a public school classroom.

Why 4 stars?:
This is a nice story, but has some logistical design flaws. The illustrations are well suited and many children will most likely enjoy it. However, the subject material may not always be accepted in a public school classroom.

Awesome book whether you're a type geek or not . I just started getting interested in learning about tyopography but this book is about more than just type , its about art and why we learn it the way we do
and how that affects how we both view and interact with the world.

good theory for teachers, useful articles from other lecturers and useful type theory that works. No colorful and amazing samples on pages. It's totally theory! worth it.

The right reader teaches typography and wants, at minimum, to know that [s]he is not alone out there. This book offers a number of essays, Q&A with praticing educators, and a few syllabi. This book consists of 40 or so brief pieces. That's way too many for any one voice ot dominate, but certainly covers a wide range of views and practices. There are a few minor gems here, including discussions of the unique needs of Hebrew and Arabic, and about the 'voice' of a printed text. There's no organized bibliography here, but the careful reader will be rewarded with a good long list of titles, some of which are sure to be unfamiliar.

Though by no means unanimous, there was wide agreement that hand-work exercises, using physical media, are helpful or necessary for understanding what computerized systems are doing. I have to agree. If nothing else, computer users have a tendency to treat the quirks and oddities of their chosen software as laws of nature. This inflexibility stands in sharp contrast to most students' use of ink, paper, and all the rest, where their goal is to push the medium to its limit or beyond. Because they have no way to adapt the software tools to their concepts, they constrain their concepts to the tools, sometimes unknowingly. Users of physical media may at least have the vision to see beyond those limits.

The practicing typographer won't find much to relate to here, except a formal statement of what was probably done to her in the classroom. This book is about training educators, not about training the practitioners themselves, so there is very little discussion of the concrete design issues.

This book has a rather narrow intended audience: type educators. Others (like me) can still read it, and still get some measure of insight into typography and typographers.

//wiredweird

Reading this book is difficult, I don't know if I'll be able to get through it.

12 point type gets a 12 point paragraph indent, 14 point type gets a 14 point paragraph indent, this book has paragraph indents of .5 inch, which suggests the type should be 36 points

It's as if the book is trying to hypnotize a person into being a good typesetter, my eyes zigzagged back and forth, and this voice started saying, "you will be a good typesetter, you will be a good typesetter." Something about the excessive white space at the beginning of the paragraphs was putting me to sleep. So any good information about typesetting will be hard to extract.

It's important to learn the elements of type before embarking on an exploration of graphic design: that's what makes Steven Heller's The Education Of A Typographer so important. Essays, interviews, and course syllabi explore the basics of teaching and learning typography, with writing by top designers and educators providing insights on the finer points of typography. Discussions cover everything from how to choose type among the hundreds of choices available to common elements of sloppy typographical choices, how to identify and eliminate them, and understanding typographic delivery to different audiences.

A bit expensive but worth every penny. This book shows you typography inside and out. Shows many typeface and ways type can be used as well as the history of type.

I honestly had trouble staying awake reading this one. I'm very interested in type design and typography but the pace of this book made me feel like a kid with attention deficit disorder watching C-Span. There's a lot of interviews so definitely get your money's worth. Illustrations are bit sparse for a book on type and the whole book comes across as überconservative.

The four stars are for the content, which is generally excellent and has not been published in other books. Everyone will have their favorite chapters, but the interview with Dwiggins is particularly illuminating and amusing.

My problem with this book is its astonishingly poor design. The layout of the pages works well, even though there are few illustrations. The paper is a shiny, bright white that positively hurts my eyes. If the book featured photography, I could understand. But it's all black type on snow -- nasty. Not to mention that the stock itself stinks. It has a heavy chemical odor, and consequently is difficult to hold at a comfortable reading distance.

If Rauri McLean did not want to use ligatures, he should have choosen a type that did not require their use. The crashing fs disturb me. Also, the beginnings of chapters are not flagged well. They begin with a drop cap followed by a short introduction in italics. This would probably work if the drop caps were larger, or in a different color. As it is, it's difficult to pick out a subject by simply thumbing through the book.

I understand that McLean was trained by the great typographer Jan Tschichold, whom I admire enormously. However, I don't see much of his influence in this glaring white, smelly book.

This is a great compilation of the thoughts of numerous renowned typographers and type designers. It is not light reading, but consequently provides great insight. McLean has done a great job with all aspects of the book, including its layout