Lessons in Typography: Must-know typographic principles presented through lessons, exercises, and examples

Lessons in Typography: Must-know typographic principles presented through lessons, exercises, and examples

by Jim Krause
Released July 2015
Publisher(s): New Riders
ISBN: 9780133993738

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Book description

Get hands on with type in this lesson-based addition to Jim Krause’s popular new Creative Core series on design fundamentals. In Lessons in Typography, you’ll learn the basics of identifying, choosing, and using typefaces and immediately put that knowledge to work through a collection of exercises designed to deepen and expand your typographic skills.

After a crash course in type terminology, you’re encouraged to walk the talk with lessons and exercises on creating type-based logos, crafting personal emblems, choosing and using the right fonts for layouts, designing your own fonts, fine-tuning text like a professional, hand lettering, and more. Krause uses practical advice, humor, and page after page of visual examples to give you a complete education in designing with type that you can read in a matter of hours and continue to learn from over the course of your career.

In Lessons in Typography, you’ll learn how to:

  • Identify and discuss fonts like a design professional

  • Choose and combine fonts effectively for use in your projects and layouts

  • Create monograms and logos using existing typefaces and custom-built letterforms

  • Modify fonts to meet your design’s specific needs

  • Space letters properly using tracking, kerning, and leading and create eye-pleasing layouts

    • Lessons in Typography is the third book in the New Riders Creative Core series, which provides instruction on the fundamental concepts and techniques that all designers must master to become skilled professionals. Additional titles in the series include Visual Design and Color for Designers.

    Table of contents

    1. Title Page
    2. Copyright Page
    3. Table of Contents
    4. Introduction
    5. Chapter 1. The Terminology of Type
      1. Appreciation
      2. Typographic Terms
        1. Types of type
        2. Forms and placement
        3. More typographic anatomy
        4. Heights
        5. Measuring type
        6. Upright, leaning
        7. Typographic optics
        8. Your Turn To: Check Your Type Vocabulary
      3. Kinds of Type
        1. Serif typefaces
        2. Serifs and change
        3. Significant details
        4. Ampersands
        5. Culture and flair
        6. Good for text
        7. Classic sans serif
        8. Comparing sans serif fonts
        9. Contemporary sans serif
        10. Variety is good
        11. Script and related typefaces
        12. Smart scripts
        13. Feigned legitimacy
        14. Blackletter typefaces
        15. Practicality
        16. Monospace typefaces
        17. Bitmap and dot matrix
        18. Display and novelty
        19. Families of dingbats, ornaments, and images
        20. Ornaments as add-ons and backdrops
        21. One typeface, many fonts
        22. Alternate and hidden characters
        23. Case
        24. One typeface, many flavors
        25. Your Turn To: Boost Your Awareness of Type
        26. Typographic numerals
        27. Lining and non-lining
        28. Number options
        29. The beauty of punctuation
        30. Hanging, or not
        31. Punctuational correctness
        32. Your Turn To: Explore Typographic History
    6. Chapter 2. The Art of the Letter
      1. Typographic Voice
        1. Expressive range
        2. Artistic expression
      2. Letter Modifications
        1. Cutting and modifying
        2. Additions and effects
        3. Ready-to-go modified fonts
        4. Decorative additions
        5. Thematic relations
        6. Focusing on: Letter Modifications
      3. Building Characters
        1. Creating within shapes
        2. Form-defining details
        3. Gridded letterforms
        4. Focusing on: Pathfinder Operations
        5. Your Turn To: Create Letters
      4. Adding Imagery
        1. Borrowed decor
        2. Added imagery
        3. Interiors
        4. Imagery inside
        5. The illustrated letter
        6. The letter as illustration
      5. Monograms and Letter Sets
        1. Monograms
        2. Pairs and sets
        3. Ways of saying and
        4. Thinking collaterally
        5. Your Turn To: Make Monograms and More
    7. Chapter 3. Working with Words
      1. Word Fundamentals
        1. Font, case, and space
        2. Mixed specifications
        3. Font ligatures
        4. Custom ligatures
        5. Letterspacing strategies
        6. Focusing on: Evaluating Letterspacing
      2. Presenting Words
        1. Word legibility
        2. Text legibility
        3. Font persona
        4. Simple word treatments
        5. Using interiors
        6. Dimension
        7. Focusing on: Digital Effects
        8. Your Turn To: Work with Words
      3. Adding Decor and Imagery
        1. Simple extensions and replacements
        2. Backdrops
        3. Enclosures
        4. Ornamental add-ons
        5. Correlation
        6. Dominant backdrops
        7. Focusing on: Developing Ideas
        8. Adding imagery
        9. Ideas from others
        10. Boiling it down
        11. The advantageous O
        12. Words as images
        13. Wrapping tightly
        14. Enclosure as starring element
        15. Your Turn To: Create Your Own Word Graphics
      4. Making Fonts
        1. Modifying existing fonts
        2. Custom-built typefaces
        3. Linework options
        4. Hand-lettering based on existing fonts
        5. Lettering analog
        6. Focusing on: Assembling Hand-Lettered Words
        7. The illustrated word
        8. Your Turn To: Make Letters and Words
    8. Chapter 4. Multi-Word Presentations
      1. Logo, Headline, and Word Graphic Fundamentals
        1. Simple and effective
        2. Font choices, font voices
        3. Combining fonts
        4. Multi-font failings
        5. Breaking lines
        6. Nontraditional line breaks
        7. Baseline considerations
        8. Getting lucky
        9. Your Turn To: Create Typographic Logos
      2. Emphasis Strategies
        1. Directing the eye
        2. Size considerations
        3. Weight and color
        4. Focusing on: Exploring Fonts
        5. Color for emphasis
      3. Type Against Backdrop
        1. The legibility factor
        2. Solid backdrops
        3. Type over imagery
        4. Focusing on: Altering Photos to Assist Legibility
        5. Your Turn To: Mix Type and Background Imagery
      4. Logos That Integrate Type and Icon
        1. Basic associations
        2. Considering options
      5. Layouts and Graphics
        1. Questions and answers
        2. Establishing pecking order
        3. Sameness
        4. Your Turn To: Incorporate Icons or Images
        5. All type
      6. Enclosures and Assemblages
        1. Simple enclosing strategies
        2. Going further
        3. Purely typographic solutions
        4. Your Turn To: Create a Personal Emblem
        5. Focusing on: Investigating Different Endings
    9. Chapter 5. Text and Layouts
      1. Helping the Reader Read
        1. Text font considerations
        2. Tracking
        3. Leading
        4. Column width versus type size
        5. Justification
        6. Wrapping text
        7. Best to avoid
      2. Paragraphs
        1. Opening lines
        2. Denoting new paragraphs
        3. Solving the argument
        4. Alternative paragraph indicators
        5. Focusing on: Making It Work
      3. Self-Contained Messages
        1. Callouts
        2. Captions
        3. Excerpts
        4. Highlighting text
        5. Your Turn To: Present a Quotation
      4. Laying It Out
        1. Levels of hierarchy
        2. Columns
        3. Flexibility
        4. Grids
        5. Adhering
        6. Overruling
        7. Assistance from lines
        8. Panels, too
        9. The spaces around
        10. Full page, purely typographic visuals
        11. On the fly
        12. Your Turn To: Never Stop Learning About Type
      5. Appreciation
    10. Glossary
    11. Index

    Product information

    • Title: Lessons in Typography: Must-know typographic principles presented through lessons, exercises, and examples
    • Author(s): Jim Krause
    • Release date: July 2015
    • Publisher(s): New Riders
    • ISBN: 9780133993738