Typographic Design

Rob Carter is Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University, and has served as a visiting professor at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He is the author of American Typography Today, Typographic Design: The Great Typefaces, the five-volume Working with Type series, and Digital Color and Type. He is also coauthor of Meggs: Making Graphic Design History.Sandra Maxa is Director of the Master of Arts Graphic Design program at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she teaches design process, theory and typography. She has served as visiting faculty at the Pratt Institute, Parsons, and at Rutgers University–Newark. As partner at Q Collective, her professional work reflects her deep interest in identity, interactivity and visual culture. Mark Sanders is Professor in the Graphic Design department at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he teaches typographic, system, and interaction design. He has also been a visiting assistant professor at the Pratt Institute and Rutgers University–Newark. As partner at Q Collective, he produces rich design systems that incorporate typography, identity, interaction, and space. The late Philip B. Meggs was School of the Arts Research Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University; visiting faculty at Syracuse University and the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland; and contributing editor to Print magazine. He authored more than a dozen books and 150 articles and papers on design and typography, including a section on graphic design in Encyclopedia Britannica. The late Ben Day was Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University. He also taught at Boston University and had been a Visiting Designer at the University of Connecticut.

• Foreword, Rob Carter viiiIntroduction ix1 The Evolution of Typography 1From the origins of writing to Gutenberg’s invention of movable type 2Typography from Gutenberg to the nineteenth century 7The nineteenth century and the Industrial Revolution 12Typography in the twentieth century 18A new century and millennium begin 272 The Anatomy of Typography 33Letterforms analyzed 34The typographic font 37Historical classification of typefaces 40The type family 44Typographic measurement 48Measuring type on screen 513 Legibility 53Basic principles of legibility 54Typographic details 64Legibility and digital typography 66Rendering type on screen 68Reading on screen 70Selecting typefaces 71Other legibility factors for on-screen typography 744 The Typographic Grid 77Background 78Structure and space 79Proportion 80The square 81Single-column grids 83Multicolumn grids 86Modular grids 91Improvisational structures 96The grid and type on screen 975 Syntax and Communication 99Typographic syntax 100Typographic space 109Visual hierarchy 112ABA form 1186 The Typographic Message 123A multidimensional language 124Verbal/visual equations 127Function and expression 1307 The Evolution of Typographic Technology 133Hand composition 134Machine composition 135Phototypesetting 137Digital typesetting 140Digital typeface file formats 142Screen-based typography 144Generative typography 148Hybrid typography 1518 Typography in Time and Motion 153Background 154Using type in time-based media 157How type changes and moves 161Legibility factors 166Expression 1679 Case Studies in Typographic Design 169Poster design: Integrating type and image 170Book design: VAS: An Opera in Flatland 174Type in motion: Process and presentation 178Identity system: Exhibit Columbus 182Information design: Bloomberg 186Identity system: 17th Street Farmers’ Market 190Interaction design: Helmut Schmid: Design Is Attitude 19310 Typographic Design Education 195Letter/digit configurations 196Inventing sign systems 196Comparative relationships: type and image 197Sequential typographic forms in space 198Unity of form and communication 199Onomatopoeia in motion 200Type chronology booklet 201Typography in the browser 202Typographic hierarchy 203Calendar deconstruction 204Experimental compositions with found typography 205Directional poster: from your house to the university 206Type, texture, tone and poetry 207New York Times grid analysis 208Type interface 209Banknote design 210Observing systems in our surroundings 211Typographic cubes 212Blending Latin and non-Latin typographic forms 212Type and image in the third dimension 213Typezine: my favorite typeface 214Typeface design: mind/machine 215Experimental typographic system 216Expressive typography: form amplifies message 217Type as metaphor 217The book project: giving shape and voice to the typographic page 21811 Typographic Design Process 219A traditional model 220Exploring typographic permutations 227Exploring typographic transformation 232Ludd: a typographic expedition 239Composites 24612 Type Specimens 251Old Style 252Garamond 254Additional Old Style fonts 260Sans serif 262Franklin Gothic 264Univers 270Meta 276Futura 282Additional sans serif fonts 288Transitional 290Baskerville 292Additional transitional fonts 298Modern 300Bauer Bodoni 302Additional Modern fonts 308Egyptian 310Serifa 312Additional Egyptian fonts 318Selected Decorative fonts 320Glossary 322Bibliography 328Credits 330Index 334