“Typographic Design” Text Updated, Unleashed

Wiley releases Typographic Design:Form and Communication, 4th ed, updated for a new age of typographic studies.

Lately we’ve seen our share of updates of long-time standard textbooks for the education of the budding typographer. From our point of view, we think we’ve started to discern a pattern that all ought to follow if they hope to impart a good sense of the spread of typographical lore, knowledge and wisdom:

1. There ought to be an accent on history, of where type came from and the places and times that it shaped and in turn shaped it;
2. Fundamentals are important, so such a book should have a focus on the basics of type anatomy and design;
3. The world of typography today, with its glittering digital heart;
4. Examples of type in flight from the page to the eye, giving the reader a hint of what it might actually mean to illustrate and paint with type;
5. Insights that go beyond merely illustrating type in use.

Very recently, Wiley & Co. added their new contribution, the update of a text that has been currency in the world of typographic education for, it is said, the better part of the past two decades: Typographic Design: Form and Communication, Fourth Edition, by Rob Carter, Ben Day, and the late Philip Meggs.

The book, well-designed and color-splashed, is an accessible yet detailed entry-level text giving the student a visually-exciting tour of the typographic planet. It does this rather effectively by starting with the history as a basis and building the knowledge up through a logical progression inward into anatomy, composition, and grids, then into the practical angle of communication, then ties it all together through examples and insights from educators showing off student exercises (one we did in school and the name of our instructor we were pleased to find on the right half of page 180–the name of our instructor is left as an exercise for the reader). A generous and gorgeously-displayed section of typeface specimens rounds out the work.

Naturally, a text on type does little for you if it has no examples of type in flight, and this one has many. Not only does type play vigorously in the beautiful color illustrations, but the examples use give a solid sense of how type can tie into the application, including a detailed look at the typography in use at the La Brea Tar Pit interpretive exhibit in Los Angeles’s Hancock Park. It’ll all keep one’s eyes dancing about the page long after the information is absorbed.

An ancillary website is has also been established that contains resources for anyone using the book: http://www.typographicdesign4e.com.

This is, in our opinion, a book that hits all the notes it should–and it should, because when one credits Philip Meggs on a book, that book should rise to a certain standard. We feel that it does, and the presentation should excite anyone studying typography–and maybe even create a new generation of enlightened typophiles into the bargain.

Just The Facts:

• Title: Typographic Design:Form and Communication, Fourth Edition
• Publisher: Wiley & Company, Nov 2006
• ISBN: 0-471-78390-0
• Authors: Rob Carter, Ben Day, Philip Meggs
• Format: PB, 325pp incl index and colophon
• Street Price:USD $50.00
• Availability: Purchase from Wiley; Purchase from Amazon
• Rating: Strongly Recommended