Typography

As you all know, some people are taking part in the Type Hierarchy Workshops over the next couple of weeks. So I thought it might be helpful to get some comments on books, online resources etc. on typography. A personal list we can put together over the next few weeks for reference… 

So, to get the ball rolling, here are a few personal favourite typography books (all in the library, as I note the Ruder book is something like 90 quid, which is crazy…):

Wolfgang Weingart: My Way To Typography, Lars Muller. Is it art or design? Sometimes a bit tricky to tell, but miles ahead of everyone usually… The video above features some of Weingart’s work, it’s a film trailer, but I’ve never actually seen the film come out (even though I seem to remember it winning some awards)…

Emil Ruder: Typographie, Niggli. 19 chapters showing ‘a multitude of possible ways in which the typographer can work with his material in order to achieve his object.’ A stunning array of work and methods in typography. He played the violin very well too, apparently.

Otl Aicher: Typographie, ernst and sohn. Lots of interesting work with a very good section on his hybrid font ‘Rotis’.

Willi Kunz: Typography: Macro and Microaesthetics, Niggli.
Willi Kunz: Typography: Formation and Transformation, Niggli. Two books by Willi Kunz, very informative and very methodical. He did amazing posters for the Columbia School of Architecture using typography and these books go into quite some detail into how he did them – see pictures here. 

8vo: On The Outside, Lars-Muller. British team who carried the torch for the renaissance in typography in this country.

Jost Hochuli: Detail in Typography, Hyphen Press. Beautiful design, a simple and intelligent read on typography. Very well worth getting hold of.

Kimberly Elam: Typographic Systems, Princeton. Probably the most helpful book to go into a type workshop on as it looks at the range of systems that designers use to arrange type. Even makes some sense of David Carson…

That’s it from me, do you have any good ones to share?

Cheers, Dominic.

Advertisement