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Thinking with Type
The organization of letters on a blank sheet—or screen—is the most basic challenge facing anyone who practices design. What type of font to use? How big? How should those letters, words, and paragraphs be aligned, spaced, ordered, shaped, and otherwise manipulated? In this groundbreaking new primer, leading design educator and historian Ellen Lupton provides clear and concise guidance for anyone learning or brushing up on their typographic skills.
Thinking with Type is divided into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an easy-to-grasp essay that reviews historical, technological, and theoretical concepts, and is then followed by a set of practical exercises that bring the material covered to life. Sections conclude with examples of work by leading practitioners that demonstrate creative possibilities (along with some classic no-no's to avoid).
Thinking with Type is divided into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an easy-to-grasp essay that reviews historical, technological, and theoretical concepts, and is then followed by a set of practical exercises that bring the material covered to life. Sections conclude with examples of work by leading practitioners that demonstrate creative possibilities (along with some classic no-no's to avoid).
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 9, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 363 reviews
December 4, 2013
I liked this book a LOT. It had loads of interesting details in it for me, my kind of detail, and it had a sense of humour. Lots of funny bits, and lots of bits that made me think long and hard.
I know there are things in it that will be old hat to experienced visual communications folk, but I'm not one of them. I'm learning, and I know some of this stuff, but a lot I either don't know at all or need to read it again anyway to try to get it into my head.
I liked the presentation on the page, I like the different ways of reading in the book, the little bits to pore over, the jokes sometimes hidden in small caps at the top of the page (or other places), some of the style. Here for example: "In our much-fabled era of information overload, a person can still process only one message at a time. This brute fact of cognition is the secret behind magic tricks. . . ."
I do LIKE "brute fact of cognition". I'm going to save it and use it somewhere crucial. And this stuff about the transition from "reader" to "user" -- I was reading this on the train and just delighting in the concept provocation. "The reader, having toppled the author's seat of power during the twentieth century" (that's the Derrida stuff) "now ails and lags, replaced by the dominant subjects of our own era: the user, a figure whose scant attention is our most coveted commodity. Do not squander it."
I love this stuff. I really love it. Here I am squandering it, no less.
Loads of visual delight in this book. Interesting things. Examples of text where the text was actually saying something interesting, or provocative, or funny or different -- not just neutral words. In the chapter on hierarchy, two examples of hierarchical representations of 'common typographic diseases'. The first of this is:
" TYPOPHILIA An excessive attachment to and fascination with the shape of letters, often to the exclusion of other interests and object choices. Typophiliacs usually die penniless and alone."
Ah well. . . .
I highlighted a lot of stuff in this book to go back to. The book didn't mind me using a highlighter -- it liked it. Often in books like this there is something so arty about them that any kind of mark feels a desecration. In this book, I felt like it was becoming MY manual. We were friends.
It gave me secret satisfaction to find a number of proof-reading errors. Quite a few had got in. The typography of the book itself is fantastic. The punctuation is devastatingly accurate and so is the spacing. But some weird spelling escaped somebody's eagle eye. Perhaps it can be a side-line of a designer's eye which looks at the detail and the shapes but somewhere along the line the actual sense can get overlooked?
It didn't stop me enjoying the book. Actually I warmed to it more because I was able to feel just a tiny bit clever in the middle of something very much cleverer.
I know there are things in it that will be old hat to experienced visual communications folk, but I'm not one of them. I'm learning, and I know some of this stuff, but a lot I either don't know at all or need to read it again anyway to try to get it into my head.
I liked the presentation on the page, I like the different ways of reading in the book, the little bits to pore over, the jokes sometimes hidden in small caps at the top of the page (or other places), some of the style. Here for example: "In our much-fabled era of information overload, a person can still process only one message at a time. This brute fact of cognition is the secret behind magic tricks. . . ."
I do LIKE "brute fact of cognition". I'm going to save it and use it somewhere crucial. And this stuff about the transition from "reader" to "user" -- I was reading this on the train and just delighting in the concept provocation. "The reader, having toppled the author's seat of power during the twentieth century" (that's the Derrida stuff) "now ails and lags, replaced by the dominant subjects of our own era: the user, a figure whose scant attention is our most coveted commodity. Do not squander it."
I love this stuff. I really love it. Here I am squandering it, no less.
Loads of visual delight in this book. Interesting things. Examples of text where the text was actually saying something interesting, or provocative, or funny or different -- not just neutral words. In the chapter on hierarchy, two examples of hierarchical representations of 'common typographic diseases'. The first of this is:
" TYPOPHILIA An excessive attachment to and fascination with the shape of letters, often to the exclusion of other interests and object choices. Typophiliacs usually die penniless and alone."
Ah well. . . .
I highlighted a lot of stuff in this book to go back to. The book didn't mind me using a highlighter -- it liked it. Often in books like this there is something so arty about them that any kind of mark feels a desecration. In this book, I felt like it was becoming MY manual. We were friends.
It gave me secret satisfaction to find a number of proof-reading errors. Quite a few had got in. The typography of the book itself is fantastic. The punctuation is devastatingly accurate and so is the spacing. But some weird spelling escaped somebody's eagle eye. Perhaps it can be a side-line of a designer's eye which looks at the detail and the shapes but somewhere along the line the actual sense can get overlooked?
It didn't stop me enjoying the book. Actually I warmed to it more because I was able to feel just a tiny bit clever in the middle of something very much cleverer.
January 21, 2013
I am not a designer, nor am I aspiring to be one. I read this as someone who appreciates art, talent and beauty, and someone who knows the importance of presentation when conveying a message.
I read this in small bits, enjoyed the info and illustrations, and then went out into the world to appreciate what I had just learned. It helped me notice the art in books, magazines, signs, business cards, web pages and so much more. My eyes fell on the subtleties of the good versus the ordinary graphic designs, the ones that catch my eye and the forgettable ones, those that convey character and those that don’t. So yes, I liked it. It did for me exactly what I wanted from it.
I read this in small bits, enjoyed the info and illustrations, and then went out into the world to appreciate what I had just learned. It helped me notice the art in books, magazines, signs, business cards, web pages and so much more. My eyes fell on the subtleties of the good versus the ordinary graphic designs, the ones that catch my eye and the forgettable ones, those that convey character and those that don’t. So yes, I liked it. It did for me exactly what I wanted from it.
July 22, 2021
This is an introductory text on typography. It covers a wide variety of subjects and it doesn't overwhelm beginners in the field with too much information. This would probably be a good place to start if you were thinking of getting into typography for the first time. After reading this, you would probably have a pretty good idea of whether you'd like to pursue it further or not.
May 8, 2015
This book was an incredible waste of time.
I learned absolutely nothing. Apart from maybe that the best way to match fonts in to make sure their x-heights are the same. The x-height is the middle bit of a letter. Now that you know this, you don't need to read the book.
The author just waffles on about completely useless history and backstory that has zero practical application.
It's also has a terrible layout. Ironic. The layout makes the book really difficult to read. There are loads of little bits of information scattered all over the spreads. I didn't know if I was supposed to read them, and in what order or if they were just fun facts.
To top it all off, at the end of the books he tells you the entire books is available online for free and you didn't need to pay for it. Save yourself a coplete waste fo time. Here is proof http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/
I learned absolutely nothing. Apart from maybe that the best way to match fonts in to make sure their x-heights are the same. The x-height is the middle bit of a letter. Now that you know this, you don't need to read the book.
The author just waffles on about completely useless history and backstory that has zero practical application.
It's also has a terrible layout. Ironic. The layout makes the book really difficult to read. There are loads of little bits of information scattered all over the spreads. I didn't know if I was supposed to read them, and in what order or if they were just fun facts.
To top it all off, at the end of the books he tells you the entire books is available online for free and you didn't need to pay for it. Save yourself a coplete waste fo time. Here is proof http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/
April 19, 2019
THINKING WITH TYPE by Ellen Lupton is a brilliant, unpretentious introduction to typography. If you're like me, and just want to design websites and PowerPoint presentations that look good, it's a perfect introduction to what makes good typography. It's considered a classic for graphics designers, but anyone can follow it and put the teachings to use right way.
The downside is, though, that I find myself annoyed by the really, really, really BAD typography you'll find in most local TV commercials. But so it goes.
Highly recommended. Five-stars, no reservations.
The downside is, though, that I find myself annoyed by the really, really, really BAD typography you'll find in most local TV commercials. But so it goes.
Highly recommended. Five-stars, no reservations.
December 4, 2013
This is one of those beautiful books that conveys meaning as much through its form as through its content. It contains many images of type designed in various ways, integrated with descriptive text to demonstrate various principles of typography.
In additional to explaining how to do things right, Lupton provides many helpful examples of what not to do.
This book is organized into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an overview of that category, including its definition and history, then splits into multiple smaller sections about specific subcategories.
Below are a couple things I found most interesting from each section:
In additional to explaining how to do things right, Lupton provides many helpful examples of what not to do.
This book is organized into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an overview of that category, including its definition and history, then splits into multiple smaller sections about specific subcategories.
Below are a couple things I found most interesting from each section:
January 26, 2012
I read somewhere that Steve Jobs had an early interest in typography and that it helped engender an attention to detail in his approach to good design. Also, my brother has a healthy appreciation for typography. So, I thought I'd try to learn a little of what it was all about.
This book was a great primer on the principles of typography. I'm glad I read it. I now pay more attention to typography everywhere around me.
Now, how do I change the font of this review to Gotham?
This book was a great primer on the principles of typography. I'm glad I read it. I now pay more attention to typography everywhere around me.
Now, how do I change the font of this review to Gotham?
January 16, 2016
Often when I talk to friends about my publishing, conversations are short. People get the idea of writing and authorship; they generally draw a blank when it comes to publishing. In particular, the idea that a book needs to be designed seems almost mystical [1]. So my delight in finding a new title focused on identifying and using type (or fonts) has been hard to explain…
Ellen Lupton, author of Thinking with Type, has clearly traveled this route. She searched for a suitable textbook on using type for her class at the Maryland Institute College of Art, but resolved that she needed to write the book herself (7).
The first thing to notice about Thinking with Type is that the book is rather heavy (1.4 pounds) and a bit more square (7” x 8.5”) than the more typical paperback (9” x 6”). Thinking with Type has a lot of glossy photographs to illustrate the points being made. Needless to say, it is a visual delight.
The format of the book serves its purpose well. Lupton writes:
This book is about thinking with typography—in the end, the emphasis falls on “with”. Typography is a tool for doing things with: shaping content, giving language a physical body, enabling the social flow of messages (8).
If the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan famously remarked, then the primary medium of a book is type. Good books sport good design and the designer needs to know the role played by type. A good choice of type requires some knowledge of how it came to be, the associations it brings to bear, and the way it relates to the subject of the book. Are you interested yet?
Lupton organizes her presentation into three categories: letter, text, and grid (or spatial organization).
Letters. Early text was significantly influenced by the human body and calligraphy. Johannes Gutenberg, for example, published the first movable type in a Bible in which he attempted to emulate Bibles that were previously written exclusively by hand and included copious illustrations. Movable type caught on in Germany, but not in China where it was invented, because the Latin alphabet was phonetic and could be illustrated with relatively few letters, unlike Mandarin which pictured words rather than sounding them out. Mandarin had too many letter forms to be easily automated with those early printing presses (13).
Text. A text, Lupton reminds us, is: an ongoing sequence of words distinct from shorter headlines or captions (87). Debates about a book, which requires an author, as opposed to “text” are everywhere in the postmodern period when authors, like Jacques Derrida (91), question to the need for an authority figure in charge of producing a text. Lupton enters this debate, in part, by elegantly illustrating alternatives to simple text.
For example, is a webpage with many links embedded a book? Most people would say no. Why? Who, for example, is the author? Is it the programmer, the web-designer, the illustrator, or the copy writer? Clearly, questions relating to the formatting of text go way beyond the decision to right, left, or center justify.
Grid. Of the three sections (letters, text, and grid), grid is probably the least familiar. Lupton defines grid in this way:
A GRID BREAKS SPACE OR TIME INTO REGULAR UNITS [all small caps]. A grid can be simple or complex, specific or generic, tightly defined or loosely interpreted. Typographical grids are all about control (151).
Here Lupton’s use of illustrations is amazing [2]. The number of choices in organizing text is amazing because most of the options are not at all obvious. Those of us who use study bibles, for example, are used to seeing footnotes and other annotations down the center of the page, but this is seldom done anywhere else—most people are accustomed to footnotes at the bottom of the page.
Repeatedly, Lupton draws on magazine grid to illustrate novel grids that highlight different dimensions of the text. The influence of graphical artists on how we perceive text is striking and at times even subversive. Presentation matters and significantly influences text interpretation. Think, for example, of the use of red letters in some Bibles—the original Greek was all caps without any punctuation and no red letters!
Ellen Lupton’s Thinking with Type is a fun and informative book. For those of you who don’t care about publishing and have no interest in design might think of it as a conversation starter. It is that interesting.
[1] It is kind of like asking a city kid where food comes from—well duh, it comes from the grocery store!
[2] Of course, I gravitated to the Biblia Polyglotta (154-155) which in 1568 offered the reader the Bible in Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, Syriac, and Greek. Today, a good program could organize such a text in minutes, but in 1568 all that was done by hand suggesting that proof-readers really did need some language skills.
Ellen Lupton, author of Thinking with Type, has clearly traveled this route. She searched for a suitable textbook on using type for her class at the Maryland Institute College of Art, but resolved that she needed to write the book herself (7).
The first thing to notice about Thinking with Type is that the book is rather heavy (1.4 pounds) and a bit more square (7” x 8.5”) than the more typical paperback (9” x 6”). Thinking with Type has a lot of glossy photographs to illustrate the points being made. Needless to say, it is a visual delight.
The format of the book serves its purpose well. Lupton writes:
This book is about thinking with typography—in the end, the emphasis falls on “with”. Typography is a tool for doing things with: shaping content, giving language a physical body, enabling the social flow of messages (8).
If the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan famously remarked, then the primary medium of a book is type. Good books sport good design and the designer needs to know the role played by type. A good choice of type requires some knowledge of how it came to be, the associations it brings to bear, and the way it relates to the subject of the book. Are you interested yet?
Lupton organizes her presentation into three categories: letter, text, and grid (or spatial organization).
Letters. Early text was significantly influenced by the human body and calligraphy. Johannes Gutenberg, for example, published the first movable type in a Bible in which he attempted to emulate Bibles that were previously written exclusively by hand and included copious illustrations. Movable type caught on in Germany, but not in China where it was invented, because the Latin alphabet was phonetic and could be illustrated with relatively few letters, unlike Mandarin which pictured words rather than sounding them out. Mandarin had too many letter forms to be easily automated with those early printing presses (13).
Text. A text, Lupton reminds us, is: an ongoing sequence of words distinct from shorter headlines or captions (87). Debates about a book, which requires an author, as opposed to “text” are everywhere in the postmodern period when authors, like Jacques Derrida (91), question to the need for an authority figure in charge of producing a text. Lupton enters this debate, in part, by elegantly illustrating alternatives to simple text.
For example, is a webpage with many links embedded a book? Most people would say no. Why? Who, for example, is the author? Is it the programmer, the web-designer, the illustrator, or the copy writer? Clearly, questions relating to the formatting of text go way beyond the decision to right, left, or center justify.
Grid. Of the three sections (letters, text, and grid), grid is probably the least familiar. Lupton defines grid in this way:
A GRID BREAKS SPACE OR TIME INTO REGULAR UNITS [all small caps]. A grid can be simple or complex, specific or generic, tightly defined or loosely interpreted. Typographical grids are all about control (151).
Here Lupton’s use of illustrations is amazing [2]. The number of choices in organizing text is amazing because most of the options are not at all obvious. Those of us who use study bibles, for example, are used to seeing footnotes and other annotations down the center of the page, but this is seldom done anywhere else—most people are accustomed to footnotes at the bottom of the page.
Repeatedly, Lupton draws on magazine grid to illustrate novel grids that highlight different dimensions of the text. The influence of graphical artists on how we perceive text is striking and at times even subversive. Presentation matters and significantly influences text interpretation. Think, for example, of the use of red letters in some Bibles—the original Greek was all caps without any punctuation and no red letters!
Ellen Lupton’s Thinking with Type is a fun and informative book. For those of you who don’t care about publishing and have no interest in design might think of it as a conversation starter. It is that interesting.
[1] It is kind of like asking a city kid where food comes from—well duh, it comes from the grocery store!
[2] Of course, I gravitated to the Biblia Polyglotta (154-155) which in 1568 offered the reader the Bible in Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, Syriac, and Greek. Today, a good program could organize such a text in minutes, but in 1568 all that was done by hand suggesting that proof-readers really did need some language skills.
April 25, 2021
At times very deep, talking about Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida and the idea of the text -- and at times whimsical, with full color prints of Japanese rock band posters. The author demonstrates her concepts graphically. A grown up picture book.
June 10, 2022
My first response to this book was that it was a little on the technical side for me. Then I saw in other readers' reviews that it was good but a little too simplistic. Huh. Well I guess I'm just a type neophyte, then.
January 2, 2024
This was such an interesting compendium of information! I knew most of these things already, but this past month me and a friend wrote and printed a silly story for another friend, and all the stuff I studied for my history of the book and publishing modules came back with a vengeance - oh, to be a youngster thats still had hope for an interesting future! The end/beginning of the year is a moment of reflection for everyone, and as every year passes on by I always reflect on how boring my life turned out to be - so going back to these old interests just by reading about them will have to do for lack of anything else.
The text is divided in neat little sections regarding every aspect of the page, starting from the birth of calligraphy styles and the typefaces rhey inspired, up until the use of the space in a page and the editing process. The information is very basic, but the presence of clear (and sometimes funny) examplea, as well as further recommendations for each specific topic, make it a great basis to learn a new skill: how to use a blank page to the best of your abilities and how to think like a graphic designer.
I accessed a scanned edition of the book on the Open Library (which is a tool I advise all of you to use - there are a lot of books, some of them even very popular contemporary bestsellers! It's free, but you can choose to donate something, or even buy a copy of a book to donate to the library); it was a great choice because I don't think an epub version would have been easy to read - there are a lot of images, as I expected from a book about graphic design regarding the printed word. But if you can, I'm sure a physical copy is the best way to appreciate the book!
The text is divided in neat little sections regarding every aspect of the page, starting from the birth of calligraphy styles and the typefaces rhey inspired, up until the use of the space in a page and the editing process. The information is very basic, but the presence of clear (and sometimes funny) examplea, as well as further recommendations for each specific topic, make it a great basis to learn a new skill: how to use a blank page to the best of your abilities and how to think like a graphic designer.
I accessed a scanned edition of the book on the Open Library (which is a tool I advise all of you to use - there are a lot of books, some of them even very popular contemporary bestsellers! It's free, but you can choose to donate something, or even buy a copy of a book to donate to the library); it was a great choice because I don't think an epub version would have been easy to read - there are a lot of images, as I expected from a book about graphic design regarding the printed word. But if you can, I'm sure a physical copy is the best way to appreciate the book!
January 30, 2024
getting litty
April 9, 2012
Do you know what a pica is? Can you explain a typeface's x-height? If you answer yes to either of these questions you'll probably rate this book no more than 3 stars.
This book is a brief read filled with lots of examples of different type styles. The book breaks typography into three sections: the letter (typefaces); text (paragraphs and spacing); and the grid (page layouts). The book seemed to spend far too little time on the letter, too little time on text and too much time on the grid for my tastes. Perhaps this has been adjusted in the 3rd edition.
Overall this book read like a four hour lecture broken up over the course of two days on the basics of type.
There are a few applicable tools- and you'll find yourself loving scala when all is said and done, but I felt this book felt short in providing a flexible set of heuristics for working with typefaces. It does provide strong rules of thumb for both the text and grid sections.
Good book and a handy shelf reference, but not a substantiative work and it doesn't provide any thought provoking questions for more experienced graphic designers.
This book is a brief read filled with lots of examples of different type styles. The book breaks typography into three sections: the letter (typefaces); text (paragraphs and spacing); and the grid (page layouts). The book seemed to spend far too little time on the letter, too little time on text and too much time on the grid for my tastes. Perhaps this has been adjusted in the 3rd edition.
Overall this book read like a four hour lecture broken up over the course of two days on the basics of type.
There are a few applicable tools- and you'll find yourself loving scala when all is said and done, but I felt this book felt short in providing a flexible set of heuristics for working with typefaces. It does provide strong rules of thumb for both the text and grid sections.
Good book and a handy shelf reference, but not a substantiative work and it doesn't provide any thought provoking questions for more experienced graphic designers.
October 19, 2015
The book itself is written masterfully, whitfully, and with boundless insight into what type means to design and culture. However, for someone looking for direction and pointers on how to tackle a project this is not the book which will hold all the answers. There are a number of instances I made a note on the pdf saying "THIS!" or "Idea for project so-and-so," so I leave with fresh ideas. After leaving this book I feel that I am more connected to the discipline of graphic design and typography, but by no means an expert. This should be the first book you read in your quest to mastering design.
February 16, 2017
Nicely written and put together intro to type – I say intro, it's difficult to see what more you'd need to read about type (as opposed to observe and practice). Once you know the term for the curly bit on an lower-case 'e' (it's a Swiss dick), where do you go from there? (I say this from the massively insecure position of being a designer without any proper training who has only been allowed to use Helvetica Neue since 2013.)
May 14, 2017
"Thinking with Type" is a very informative and well structured book. It provides a lot of advice on how to choose a typeface, how to combine typefaces in order to get a contrast, which typefaces look better bigger/smaller and much more. I have enjoyed every page and I think it is the best typography book I have ever read! Highly recommend!
May 3, 2020
The book combines theory with interesting tidbits from the worlds of art, web design, etc. It also shows the synergies between being artistic and scientific in typeface production. Great for people who don't know a lot about typography (like me) and the way we consume text
December 29, 2015
This is the perfect book for graphic design dummies. Really helpful and witty. I feel ready to embark on a design adventure.
December 22, 2020
Digging deeper
An excellent book on the use and technical function of type. I learned quite a bit from it, both from a historical perspective as well as tips for InDesign
An excellent book on the use and technical function of type. I learned quite a bit from it, both from a historical perspective as well as tips for InDesign
Read
October 27, 2017Ryan Shaw
Mrs. Marlow
English
25 October 2017
Thinking with Type 2
This is a very informative book about typography and design all together. Ellen Lupton included many great examples to show what she was talking about. It is also a very well designed book but that is expected from a book about designing. It is aimed at editors, writers, designers, and students. I would say this isn’t a book for middle schoolers though. It gets really technical and advanced in some places. But if you are up for it, it is a really in depth on everything it talks about. It isn’t about fonts but more about how to use them to portray your thinking. There are many long and confusing words so that may be a downside for some people. It takes you back to the beginning of art and typography in China, through the Renaissance, and into present time.
As I said in the first paragraph I believe this is a very informative book. This is probably the most information heavy book I’ve ever read. I would even go as far to say this is more informative than the textbooks at school. Every sentence you learn something new. The only problem I had with this book is the way the author stretches out topics and makes them very confusing. But overall I learned a lot from this book, even though it is short, it has lots of information. I have only one friend I would recommend it to though because of the complexity and knowledge of design you need to have to be able to understand anything. Also, this is kind of weird, the material they printed on feels really nice in the hand.
Mrs. Marlow
English
25 October 2017
Thinking with Type 2
This is a very informative book about typography and design all together. Ellen Lupton included many great examples to show what she was talking about. It is also a very well designed book but that is expected from a book about designing. It is aimed at editors, writers, designers, and students. I would say this isn’t a book for middle schoolers though. It gets really technical and advanced in some places. But if you are up for it, it is a really in depth on everything it talks about. It isn’t about fonts but more about how to use them to portray your thinking. There are many long and confusing words so that may be a downside for some people. It takes you back to the beginning of art and typography in China, through the Renaissance, and into present time.
As I said in the first paragraph I believe this is a very informative book. This is probably the most information heavy book I’ve ever read. I would even go as far to say this is more informative than the textbooks at school. Every sentence you learn something new. The only problem I had with this book is the way the author stretches out topics and makes them very confusing. But overall I learned a lot from this book, even though it is short, it has lots of information. I have only one friend I would recommend it to though because of the complexity and knowledge of design you need to have to be able to understand anything. Also, this is kind of weird, the material they printed on feels really nice in the hand.
December 13, 2017
This was one of the first books on typography, and by extension graphic design I’ve read. I still love it. Nine years later, it’s still a go-to recommendation for someone curious about type, or someone who should be but doesn’t know it (yet). I'd consider this an introductory text, or a good reference for someone who's already internalized most of the content, but might want a high level reference nearby. If you've been doing visual or information design for a while some of this may be old hat, but there will probably be chunks that are new. What isn't gets conveyed in such a clear fashion that it's worth studying the the delivery anyway.
For friends that think Design is just about making things pretty, this is a pretty cheap and unimposing book to lend away.
I think this is more accessible for newcomers and enthusiasts than Robert Bringhurst's “The Elements of Typographic Style” (which I've started and not finished--yet).
For friends that think Design is just about making things pretty, this is a pretty cheap and unimposing book to lend away.
I think this is more accessible for newcomers and enthusiasts than Robert Bringhurst's “The Elements of Typographic Style” (which I've started and not finished--yet).
January 26, 2021
*Obs!* Känsliga tittare varnas för vissa bilder i boken.
En intressant bok om typografi som dessutom är rolig (och något av ett äventyr) att bläddra i. Man vet aldrig vad som dyker upp på nästa sida. Det finns också en hel del matnyttigt för den som studerar grafisk formgivning. Fint omslag.
En intressant bok om typografi som dessutom är rolig (och något av ett äventyr) att bläddra i. Man vet aldrig vad som dyker upp på nästa sida. Det finns också en hel del matnyttigt för den som studerar grafisk formgivning. Fint omslag.
February 27, 2024
Books on design apparently think designers are absolute neanderthals incapable of abstract thought. They trick you into purchase by packaging their drivel in a pretty cover with an aesthetic layout. DO NOT FALL VICTIM. A quick google will save you $3o.
June 23, 2018
this book is super interesting every part of it is ameizing
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2022
Thinking With Type is fun for the eyes and for the most part a good primer on multiple aspects of working with words, but it stumbles hard in few place, making factually incorrect assertions or offering dubious advice. The most flagrant errors are concentrated in the content new to the expanded second edition, so finding a first edition may be advisable.
Of the book’s three sections, the second (“Text”) is by far the strongest, with crisp and thought‐provoking essays like “Errors and Ownership” and “Birth of the User”.
2021 addendum: Shaping Text covers largely the same content and is a vastly superior book. I strongly encourage anyone considering reading Thinking With Type to try that book instead.
Of the book’s three sections, the second (“Text”) is by far the strongest, with crisp and thought‐provoking essays like “Errors and Ownership” and “Birth of the User”.
2021 addendum: Shaping Text covers largely the same content and is a vastly superior book. I strongly encourage anyone considering reading Thinking With Type to try that book instead.
May 12, 2012
An excellent overview. There won’t be much new information for someone who has taken classes or studied typography...but it’s still a great resource. The writing is witty (captions throughout the book include TYPE CRIMES and NERD ALERTS, which list common mistakes and some nice details.) It is also gorgeously designed.
She is kind enough to format her explanations with the problem included (e.g. b ad kemin g). I also was turned on to some nice typefaces that I was previously unaware of. This also includes a handy chart of keyboard shortcuts for things such as the en and em dash, standard and discretionary hyphens, real quotation marks, and more. If you are new to typography, this is a great place to start. Otherwise, you’ll probably be fine without it.
She is kind enough to format her explanations with the problem included (e.g. b ad kemin g). I also was turned on to some nice typefaces that I was previously unaware of. This also includes a handy chart of keyboard shortcuts for things such as the en and em dash, standard and discretionary hyphens, real quotation marks, and more. If you are new to typography, this is a great place to start. Otherwise, you’ll probably be fine without it.
February 10, 2010
My first response to this book was that it was a little on the technical side for me. Then I saw in other readers' reviews that it was good but a little too simplistic. Huh. Well I guess I'm just a type neophyte, then.
I think I was hoping to be more inspired by the book. I was inspired, but in more subtle ways than I expected. I did learn things that I didn't know about typefaces, and I enjoyed seeing visual representations of the type in text.
My favorite sections were on grids and hierarchy.
I think I was hoping to be more inspired by the book. I was inspired, but in more subtle ways than I expected. I did learn things that I didn't know about typefaces, and I enjoyed seeing visual representations of the type in text.
My favorite sections were on grids and hierarchy.
April 19, 2014
Out of all the graphic design-related books that I've read (and I really have not read a lot) this one is the best, so far. This is the perfect introduction to the field because it delivers the information in a way that is easy to digest. The guide for proofreaders and copy editors in the last part is a delightful surprise. My favorite part, though, is when the author provided a brief history of type. It puts everything I've learned in context.
Want to read
May 28, 2008I bought this while drunk. See what happens when you wander around in bookstores, wasted, after just getting a paycheck? Now I feel pretty embarrassed; it's not a bad book but it still has that aura of things uncreative people buy to make themselves think they're creative (*cough* art directors *cough*).
March 10, 2012
I actually really liked this and found it very useful- I will probably buy a copy.
I gave it three stars instead of four because there were times when I got lost and felt things weren't fully explained, like in the discussion of grids and baselines. I'm hoping it will start to make sense after a reread and some experimentation, or else I guess I'll have to take a course or something.
I gave it three stars instead of four because there were times when I got lost and felt things weren't fully explained, like in the discussion of grids and baselines. I'm hoping it will start to make sense after a reread and some experimentation, or else I guess I'll have to take a course or something.
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