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Just My Type: A Book About Fonts (2011)

by Simon Garfield(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1592406521 (ISBN13: 9781592406524)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Gotham

review 1: This book is an introduction to the world of typography that manages to be both entertaining and informative. The book is divided into 22 'proper' chapters interspersed frequently by little 'font breaks' where a specific type is discussed e.g. Gill Sans, Futura, Optima. In these font breaks the history of the type is given, designers are profiled etc. The rest of the book is mainly a kind of history lesson that takes in various changes in technology and how type design continues to progress despite there being many thousands of fonts readily available. Particularly interesting was the chapter on the font for British road signs designed by Kinneir and Calvert. Only when you see how clear and simple it is compared with an alternative design by Kindersley that you appreciate... more it. But this is what these people are generally trying to achieve. A font that is so good it can be read without being noticed.
review 2: I loved this book as much as any typophile would, and it incorporates hundreds of fonts, backstories on their creation(s), and an actual picture of a quick brown fox as it jumps over a lazy dog. Many books of this kind I pick up because I don't know anything about the topic, but that wasn't the case here - and I still learned a bunch of stuff.Highly recommended. For typeset geeks and those who enjoy esoteric trivia and histories. less

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