thinking with type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students by Ellen Lupton was an excellent intermediate guide to the history and use of type in design.

I have not had the opportunity to attend formal education on design so I turn to books to fill the knowledge vacuum. I found this book to be a little deeper than entry level. I found myself reading through a chapter multiple times just to get at what Ellen was trying to say but I would rather have to think than be disappointed.

The book looked at 3 major subjects within typography.

First it looked at the Letter. From going into history of the different classifications of fonts (think Roman or Gothic) to describing the elements of the letter (think x-heights or descenders,) I was intrigued with how intricate it is to design an excellent font (think not Comic Sans.)

Zuzana Licko, fearless pioneer of the digital dawn, produced historical revivals during the 1990s alongside her experimental display faces. Her 1996 typeface Mrs Eaves, inspired by the eighteenth-century types of John Baskerville (and named after his mistress and housekeeper Sarah Eaves), became one of the most popular typefaces of its time.

It was then on to Text. Lupton takes the reader through kerning, and spacing and even touches a little on web accessibility. She highlights “Type Crimes” on certain topics. For example when discussing the use of “tracking” she points out

Type Crime: Negative Tracking
Make the shoe fit, not the foot. Don’t use negative tracking to save space.

The third part of the book which is actually the reason I was pointed to the book in the first place, is on Grids and their use in layout. I read a number of blog entries on the subject, beginning with Mark Boulton’s series Five Simple Steps to Designing Grid Systems and wanted to learn more about the subject.

It was a pretty basic introduction in the book which was to be expected due to the limited space dedicated to the subject but it was worth reading how it works together with Letter and Text.

Ellen also included a handy appendix which is a handy guide for more of the editorial aspects which is almost worth buying the book for. It would have been a little nicer if it was able to be separated from the book but instead, I’ll be setting apart some desk space for the book itself.