Typography Essentials Revised and Updated

100 Design Principles for Working with Type

Ina Saltz

• Publisher: Rockport Publishers
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781631596483
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Typography

Typography Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Working with Type is a practical, hands-on resource thatdistills and organizes the many complex issues surrounding the effective use of typography. An essential reference for designers since 2009, Typography Essentials is now completely refreshed with updated text, new graphicsandphotos, and a whole new look. Divided into foursections—The Letter, The Word, The Paragraph, and The Page—the text is concise, compact, and easy to reference. Each of the 100 principles, which cover all practical aspects of designing with type, has an explanation and inspiring visual examples drawn from international books, magazines, posters, and more. Typography Essentials is for designers of every medium in which type plays a major role, and is organized and designed to make the process enjoyable and entertaining, as well as instructional.

THE LETTER

1 Using letter as form

EACH LETTER IS A SHAPE UNTO ITSELF, a shape that may serve as an illustration, as an icon, as a vessel, or as a graphic focal point, apart from its meaning as an alphabetic unit. Especially when used at very large sizes, the extreme proportions of letterforms can have exceptional impact—this technique has been exploited very effectively by many successful designers.

Letters can be expressive when used alone, as a simple silhouette, as an outline, or as a container for image, texture, or pattern. The beauty and power of the individual form may also be used partially: or a shape that is sliced and diced, cropped, or reversed horizontally or vertically. Because it is a letterform, it has a built-in relationship with any typeface that accompanies it. Its inherent integration unifies the design of the whole piece.

Project

Rebecca Minkoff Couture Identity Concept

Design Studio

Remake

Art Director, Designer

Michael Dyer

Client

Rebecca Minkoff

This custom-lettered logo forms a discrete shape, but within its boundaries, each letter is delicate and leaf-like. The delicacy is further underscored by the pastel color gradation. The logo also appears with some of its counter spaces filled with a similar hue.

Project

Brooklyn Public Library Branding

Studio

Eight and a Half

Art Director

Bonnie Siegler

Designer

Andrew James Capelli

Client

Brooklyn Public Library

The letters comprising the logo can accommodate images, textures, and colors to reflect different aspects of the organization’s identity and a variety of events. It is a vessel made of the letters Bklyn, the common abbreviation for Brooklyn.

Project

Salute the Sound

Design Director

Paul Sych

Typographer

Paul Sych

Client

Bass the Beat Productions

These letterforms are beautiful abstractions, chunky ribbons of color. It is amazing that we can actually read this phrase, given how spare the forms are. The letterforms suggest the vinyl ridges of an album or LP.

2 Using counter spaces as form

THE SPACES INSIDE AND AROUND the shape of a letter, called counter spaces, are often overlooked as design elements. Their shapes can be customized using color, pattern, or textur...