Book Description

Exploring the methods for teaching and learning typography, this book features more than 40 essays from top experts and educators in typography today. These essays run the gamut from introducing the themes of type and typography to various complex and rare strategies for learning. ... Read more

Book Description

This classic volume should find its place on every design student's bookshelf. Here is the history of the printed word, from the earliest alphabets through the evolution of the printing press. The contributions of the great printers and typographers are here. A new chapter by Robert Bringhurst takes up this history where Chappell put down his pen, covering the most recent developments in the printed word. Over 200 illustrations appear throughout. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

a must read
The book is a great source of information. The 4 (not 5) stars is given cause the book is filled with postscript errors (missing letters, ligatures replaced by spaces, accented glyphs...). Disapointing for a book about typography.

What Historians Don't Know
Among graphic designers, one of the finest, most popular books in recent years is Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style (Hartley & Marks, 1992). In this book, Bringhurst revisits a classic history of typography, publication design and printing techniques that was originally produced in 1970 by Chappell (1904-1991), a book designer, illustrator and author who had studied with Rudolf Koch. Of eleven highly readable chapters, all were written by Chappell, with the exception of the last on "The Digital Revolution and the Close of the Twentieth Century." Why reissue Chappell's book? As Bringhurst explains in the preface, "He knew some of the things that historians know, but mostly he knew what historians don't know. I wanted the names and dates set straight, insofar as possible, and yet to hear the story told as Chappell told it, from a workbench rather than a keyboard, with silences in place of self-advertisements, and graver marks and acid stains in place of any footnotes." (Review copyright 2000 by Roy R. Behrens from Ballast Quarterly Review 15, No. 4, Summer.)

Chappell's "Short History" is Lively and Thorough
A thoroughly enjoyable read on the people, places, and things that make up the history of type and publishing. Warren Chappell's book was revised and appended by noted author Robert Bringhurst and this book is the perfect complement to Bringhurst's own "Elements of Typographic Style". The content is alive with names, significant facts, technological contributions, and lots of good illustrations. This is an amazing book that is well-written and historically significant, and the authors fill in all of the gaps on the history of type and printing. The short history they describe is concise and thorough. The only disappointment is Bringhurst's final chapter on "The Digital Evolution and the Close of the Twentieth Century", where he completely overlooks the significant contributions of the people and technologies in the digital age and opts instead to explore the work of a few small private presses. Also, how can one brief summary chapter hope to describe the accomplishments of the last thirty years? Sadly, Bringhurst missed a real opportunity to provide a keen insight on the digital revolution and its impact on the printed word. All the same, this is a "must have" book for typographers, type designers, and typophiles. ... Read more

Book Description

More often workplace writing and document design takes a backseat in a company's mission/product. This book offers strategies and tools for document design of ALL types.Readers will extend to visual design the approach they assimilate in their writing and editing. It focuses on the kinds of situations and practical documents that employees encounter daily, with a special focus on audience, purpose, and context of the message. Topics include: perception and design; visual analysis; extra-textual design; pictures, and more.Writers and editors who design documents. Part of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical Writing, edited by Sam Dragga, Texas Tech University. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Designing Visual Language
It reads kind of like a text book, but the information is very good. I am trying to learn about graphic design in my free time and this book has helped me to better understand the basics of visual communication. I have also reciently read "The non-designers design book", which I also recommend. This book starts at the beginning and helps you to understand what you must do, and take into account in order to make something visually pleasing. It has helped me in my design efforts. The book was lent to me and now I plan on buying it, it was so good. I might even look into the rest of the books in the series. (The Allyn & Bacon series in Technical Communication) All in all a good book. I give it 4 stars ... Read more

Book Description

Typography 23, the only annual devoted exclusively to typography, presents the finest work in this field for 2001. Selected from approximately 2,500 international submissions, the 158 winning designs displayed in this reference are models of excellence and innovation in the use of type. Winners of this latest competition come from books, magazines, corporate identities, logotypes, stationery, annual reports, video and web graphics, and posters. Special indices list full information on the typefaces used, the creative team, and winners of Judges' Choice awards. Of course, each entry is displayed in vibrant color on premium paper. ... Read more

Book Description

For the first time a vast repertory of Snow’s works in all mediums can be explored in the interactive environment of a DVD-Rom. With over 4000 entries on the artist’s works, 60 video excerpts, 47 musical extracts and 30 presentations of major installations. With a hardcover publication. ... Read more

Book Description

How many hours have you spent trying to get LATEX to do what You want? If the answer is ‘too many, then you need LATEX Line by Line. Written for LATEX novices, this book starts from the very basics providing clear explanations and realistic examples. The book is designed to help you find solutions to specific tasks, such as indexing, setting complicated mathematics and producing simple line diagrams. It also aims to guide you through the process of creating documents as simple as letters and articles or as complex as books—all to a professional presentational quality. The glossary provides guidance on every standard command—and a few non-standard ones too. Although the book provides a comprehensive introduction to the latest version of LATEX, namely LATEX 2_ε, an appendix clearly explains the differences between LATEX 2_ε and the original version of LATEX. In this way, the book can profitably be used by people who still have the older version. Many of the examples of typesetting that are given in the book are coded as templates and are available on the accompanying Website. They can be used as recipes or skeletons which can be customized by making minor adjustments to the commands. Full explanations of how these documents have been constructed are given for those wanting to better understand the inner workings of this flexible and powerful package. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Best beginner's book
In the TeX/LaTeX universe, I've found that you get the program for free, but then you wind up buying $200 worth of books to learn the program because no one textbook is all things to all people. This is hands down the best "introductory book." It's easy to read and gives you enough information to start up quickly. Hahn's book is outdated with its coverage of Latex 2.09, and Kopka's, while having lots of good stuff in it (if you can find it), reads like a scientific text translated from a foreign language--which it is.

If you want to start getting productive with LaTeX immediately, get this book.

Well-written but missing many things
This book is well written and is great for anyone trying to put together reports and simple documents with no frills (base fonts and formatting). It does not cover font selection (NFSS), customization, and many other important things for advanced documents, like a book. If you need a much more comprehensive book for LaTeX I would recommend Kopka's book. The book is structured in a very confusing and sometimes illogical manner, but it covers much more. This book is much more efficient, but you may find yourself needing more.

Single Best Book on LaTeX available!
I've recently been through most of the beginning to intermediate LaTeX books and have found the bulk of them almost worthless in helping to learn and use LaTeX. This book is extremely readable and useful with correct syntax. The focus is unapologetically LaTeX2e and is not encumbered with outdated 2.09 commands. This is hands down the one book I would buy if I were only going to buy one. After this I would recommend Kopka, though that is much less well presented but definitely the next best (it is loaded with superfluous 2.09 command comparisons which just get in the way of getting through the book). It is way down hill after that, including Lamport's book (beautifully typeset but not clearly written).

Outstanding reference
I agree with the previous review. Among other nice touches the book contains a descriptive list of all LaTeX commands. This alone made it worth the money for me.

More than worth the money!
My copy of this book is well worn, dog earned, and filled with enough paper clips to set off airport alarms. It has well over half a pad of pink post it notes extending from its pages. Several Xerox copies of book pages hang from my desk for quick reference. I would never go back to L*****'s book!

It was Diller's manuscript that allowed me to publish my dissertation with LaTeX in a timely fashion with minimal headache (from text processing!).

Pure TeX geeks will shun this book. It's too readable and too practical. If you want to hack away your grad school days solving Knuth's TeX programming exercises, this book is not for you.

Purchase this book if you actually want to get some productive work done with LaTeX! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Classic. Every Designer's Library Should Have This Book
Don't let the publication date throw you off. I've got the 1978 version, and it's still absolutely relevant. I've never found another book like it. Any designer creating magazine pages or multi-page publications will find core insights here. The book itself represents elegantly timeless information design. A great resource, great tool, great inspiration. Add this one to your collection.

excellent resource
an excellent reference book for magazine or newspaper layout artists. ... Read more

Book Description

Fontographer: Type by Design is a comprehensive guide to typeface design and editing with Fontographer. Topics covered include: modifying PostScript typeface, problem-free printing, addressing TrueType problems, incorporating complex characters, creating "morphed" faces, using Fontographer with Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Freehand, and shortcuts for editing PostScript fonts with popular software. Fontographer: Type by Design also discusses legal issues like copyright of typeface designs. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

This book is wonderfully helpful.
A close friend of mine has fontographer 4.0 but no user manual and he never learned how to use it. I've tried to learn it just by messing around, but to no avail. The program is not self-explanatory. I found Moye's book at the UW art library and started reading. Three hours later (pg. 100) I remembered I needed to eat some food. I was thoroughly impressed with the "morals?" of type design he presented along with the how to. He stresses the quality of the product, which has been lost in the quantity of typefaces today. Who would imagine a software book could suck a person in. Listen to me, I'm rambling. Anyway, check it out. It's a keeper.

An Excellent Supplement to Macromedia's "Using Fontographer"
Stephen Moye's book takes over where the Fontographer manual supplied by Macromedia leaves off. Whereas Macromedia's book is merely a software instruction manual which describes how to use the features of the program Mr. Moye describes in great detail how to effeciently design a font from start to finish. His strategy of using the similarities in the strokes, stems and serifs in a character set will save the font designer a lot of time and frustration. Even though the book was written with a slight bend towards the MacIntosh version of the software, it is equally useful for the Windows fontographer. It is surprising (and fortunate) that such a good-quality book has been written for a software program which is not as well known, and does have the large customer base as many other graphics programs.

bad typesetting
Negative Remarks: While this book maybe full of useful information, it is difficult to read. The type is set 14/18 with half inch indents on paragraphs. Rule of thumb, 14 point type, 14 point indent. I felt like I was junping to the next page when I started a new paragraph. It would be easier reading to have set the book in 12 point type, with 14 point leading, and 12 point indents.

Positive Remarks: If the typesetting weren't so bad, the font chosen for the book was very nice.

PLEASE PLEASE BRING IT BACK
I really want this book and would jump for joy if it was in print again!! I have heard that this is the best book for understanding how to use and master Fontographer. I have the software and am really struggling with the undesirable manuel!! PLEASE BRING IT BACK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Best guide out there for making your own fonts
In my day job as program manager for western language fonts at Adobe Systems, I'm often asked about books for people wanting to learn how to make their own digital fonts. This is the one I recommend first every time.

Stephen Moye has quite simply written the best and at this time the only complete guide to making your own fonts. Information on how to construct outlines properly, spacing, kerning and more is all here. Importantly, this book is NOT only useful for people using Fontographer (which is a sadly out of date tool now); most of the information is equally useful for those working with FontLab or other modern font creation tools.

Other books worth checking out for the would-be font-maker include Michael Harvey's Creative Lettering Today, Walter Tracy's Letters of Credit, and Alexander Lawson's Anatomy of a Typeface. Of course there's also Robert Bringhurst's classic Elements of Typographic Style, which should be owned and read by anyone who cares about type.

I liked this book so much that I personally hand-bound mine as a hardcover, to make it last. In retrospect, with used softcover copies going for $300 each, it seems like I had the right idea! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Don't Typeset Without It
Lots of details on how to tweak LaTeX.

This book is where I first look if I have a Latex problem - extremely useful.

Outstanding book of hints and tips
I bought this book in 1996 when I entered graduate school and have utilised it as a reference while writing all my research papers as well as my dissertation. I also have "The LaTeX Companion" by Goossens et al., but this book is much more useful to me. At about 170 pages, it crams everything you need into a very short amount of space, including info on fonts, tables, math, formatting, etc. The chapter on large documents was invaluable to me when I was preparing my dissertation. Furthermore, the last chapter has a number of cool macros that have come in pretty handy.

Note that this is not a beginner's book on LaTeX, nor does it exhaustively show all the extremely cool bells and whistles that LaTeX can do; this book serves as a concise reference and list of hints and tips for using the key markups. When I write a paper, I like to concentrate on the actual content I'm writing about rather than how to format the text. However, when I do need to format text just right, I turn to this book, and it has never let me down.

a must-have
A concise yet complete reference book for every Latexer. Very organized. a best-buy ... Read more

Book Description

Whether you're a desktop publishing pro or just getting started, QuarkXPress 4 For Dummies has what you need. Design experts Barbara Assadi, Galen Gruman, and John Cruise reveal tips, tricks, and advice that will have you producing professional brochures, newsletters, and dynamic color publications in no time.

QuarkXPress 4 For Dummies also details shortcuts, highlights common mistakes, and outlines ten essential tools for Web publishing. To further facilitate your online publishing forays, QuarkXPress 4 For Dummies includes a chapter featuring vital online resources and corresponding URLs, including QuarkXPress tips, free QuarkXPress templates, XTensions Sites, the XPresso Bar, and Sal's AppleScript Snippets. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Dumb Fan
This series of books is the best value for the money and this one is no different. I am a graphic designer of 2 years and most of the useful knowledge I have obtained in order to use Photoshop, Illustrator, Pagemaker and now, Quark, has been gleaned from the Dummies books. They begin at the beginning in language that anyone who is literate can understand. This one lacks the humor that I have come to enjoy, but still, it gets the job done. If you sit at your computer with this book on your desk and work with it, you will soon be laying out your pages and setting margin guides, drawing paths for your type and using graphics.

Great book and very useful!
I had to learn Quark over a weekend to typeset a book I was working on and this book made it a snap. Instructions are very easy to follow and any other questions can be easily resolved following the index. If you are as impatient as I am this book will be really handy when you are trying to get your arms around Quark - which now is one of my favorite programs. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Wow! A Great Book!
A friend told me about this great book. It is possibly the best book about type and type designers that I have. Alexander Lawson does a superb job telling the history of the designers and the type faces back to the beginning. Excellent illustrated examples of the type faces. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in type and letterforms.

Dated but a worthwhile read.
This book does not take into account the digital type revolution of the past twelve years, but it's an excellent critical review of all the important types still in use. Some of these types may have had their genesis several hundred years ago, but Lawson also takes into account their twentieth-century incarnations. Especially valuable are the examples of old typography, which never fail to fascinate and enchant. Not only a worthy reference, but an entertaining read.

Great work on history and design of typefaces
Although called "Anatomy of a Typeface," this book actually takes about 20 classic typefaces and analyzes each, discussing its designer, history, and aesthetics in depth. This is an outstandingly thoughtful and well-researched book by a master in the field, potentially of use both to someone with a basic understanding of the topic and to an expert ... Read more

Book Description

A sprawling compendium of Art Deco design from across Europe, Euro Deco features a broad range of exemplary graphic ephemera. Culled from Steven Heller and Louise Fili's popular International Deco series of inspirational reference books, the material in Euro Deco comes from Italy, Spain, the UK, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, primarily between WWI and WWII -- the time when the continent gave birth to modern graphic design. Well over a thousand images from posters, packaging, advertisements, menus, and brochures display the elegant geometry and harmonious marriage of typography and illustration that make deco a popular style to this day. A generous package at an attractive price, Euro Deco is poised to be a standard graphic resource for designers, collectors, and aesthetes alike. ... Read more

Book Description

Fast becoming the lingua franca of the scientific world, LaTeX isa software system for typesetting technical documents on almostany kind of computer. LaTeX marries the power of TeX with easeof use. The release of LaTeX $2_{\epsilon }$, the new standardversion, brings a wider variety of features to the user. Thismanual, written by the original architect of LaTeX, is thedefinitive user's guide to LaTeX $2_{\epsilon }$. New users willbenefit from the clear, concise, and practical explanations thatearned the original LaTeX documentation worldwide praise.Experienced users will want to learn about the new features andcapabilities of LaTeX $2_{\epsilon }$. An appendix is includedthat describes the changes in the new version. This book ispublished by Addison-Wesley. ... Read more

Reviews (23)

Not the whole Document Preparation System
One would expect a lot more for the price of this book. Instead of being a comprehensive guide or even complete introduction to LaTeX, this book is a nearly cursory introduction.

Commands and options are not described in detail, leaving a lot of guesswork in doing simple tasks like laying out equations, including an abstract, or including graphics. How to program your own environments is left for the Latex Companion. The reference section in the back is poorly laid out and missing quite a bit of information.

The book is a good introduction for those who have never used LaTeX but gives very little for one's money; books on other computer-related topics, from C to HTML tend to be more comprehensive. I'd recommend this book only because there aren't many basic introductions to LaTeX in existence.

Very good book for all level users!
As a person fairly new to TeX, I found this book most helpful. I made a surprising discovery this summer while working with professional scientists who write almost everything in LaTex: many of them used this book, too! It, along with it's companions, are THE reference for many of these scientists. The one shortcoming of this, as well as every LaTeX guide I have seen, is that it doesn't explain how to include external postscript graphics at all, something we all need to do, it seems.

Disappointing purchase
Seems to be an okay resource for people just getting started. However it is completely inadequate as a reference. Better resources are available on the internet for free.

Like the content, hate the binding.
I am a recent immigrant to the world of LaTeX, and find this book a very adequate guide. My needs are modest, and this book is well enough organized to meet those needs without fuss. Four stars for content.

The cover (paperback) fell off the signatures within the first month, though - the glue failed completely. One star for shoddiness, only because the scale goes no lower.

Three stars averages the two ratings, rounded up.

Everything you need to know about LATEX
This is the only book you will need on LATEX, however, you are required to make a few "leaps of faith" in understanding. The latex markup language is extremely powerful and sometimes you have to try things and discover the power for yourself. Having said that, the author does an amazing job of fitting so much information into such a thin book! Stick with it, persist with it a little, and you will come to know and love it. I write many papers in LaTeX and this is the only reference I have ever needed. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Typography 101
I found this book to be an excellent, well organized, and easy to use tool in learning the history, classification, and organization of type. It is a great text for anyone starting out in the design field as well as for the experienced designer. I never knew exactly how much care and detail went into properly setting type until I got into this book. Mr. Kane has included excellent visual examples and some extremely useful exercises to help illustrate each subject covered in the text. The book flows very well and is a pleasurable read, and there is always something new for your eyes to take in on the next page.

I had the pleasure of taking two classes taught by Mr. Kane, and he definately knows typography backwards and forwards. He, as well as his book, is a wealth of knowledge for the aspiring designer.

Very modern and practical
A great book that introduces to the beginner many of the sensitivities that one ought to have when working with type.

It gives many great practical examples and exercises that makes one appreciate type on many levels.

As one who is taking a class in Typography, this is a great book to have by one's side. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An update from the author
Well, it's over 4 years since I "interviewed myself"about this book. Lots has changed. Most importantly, that email addressdoesn't work; better is felix@nlightning.com, and to see what I'm doing now, start at my home page (not recently updated since I've beenbusy with eConstructors, an Internet startup.

the best desktop publishing business book
All the books I've seen that try to explain the business of desktop publishing have been too general and pretty uniformly unhelpful. This one, Desktop Publishing Success, is different. Filled with the real-life dtpexperiences of the two authors and many others interviewed, the book willgive the fledgling dtp business a good chance at success. What the dtpentrepreneur needs in starting out is very detailed information in theday-to-day running of the business; this is just what this book provides.It could be better only by a new, updated edition. ... Read more

Book Description

Essay by Wolfgang Weingart.

8.75 x 11 in.
450 illustrations
English/German ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Expensive, but well worth having.
I've got this book checked out of the library right now, but somehow I know I'll soon spend the [money] for my own copy. Every page packs a wallop of ideas. Nightly, I open the tome randomly and read myself to sleep. Weingart has the courage to fill a series of pages with oversize underlined text, another with stark photographs of fields, then off to a visual essay on the power of strikethrough. This book knocks me out.

The father of us all...
I have been waiting for this book for years. In 1998 I worked as an intern with the Maine Summer Institute in Graphic Design. It was the last year that Mr. Weingart taught there and I was more than honored to work for and learn from him. Near the end of his week he brought out a pre-production copy of his book (no cover, editing marks on some pages) and showed it to all of us. We were enthralled (I have been saving my pennies ever since). This weighty tome isn't your run-of-the-mill portfolio book, this is a journey into the mind of one who personally laid the foundation for nearly all of us in design today. Having this book is almost (but not quite) as good as meeting and learning from the man himself. Open any page and you'll find knowledge and inspiration either in his imagery or his entertaining writing. I now finally have my copy and it is well worth the cost. Humbling and inspiring and is a must for anyone who fancies themselves a typographer.

Type and more
This is much more than another book about typography, it's the full disclosure of an artist who paints with the letter M and composes layouts that evoque the Syrian Desert. In this book Weingart opens his life, his creative path and his sources of inspiration. It's not a book of rules or absolutes about typography, but about the experience of it, about its expression and its materials. The book itself is a lesson on layout and impeccable typesetting. Through the provocative images and intimate text Weingart renewed in me the passion for this profession and brought back wonderful memories of the times when he was my teacher. Thank you for this long awaited book!

tripographic
Mr weingart lead us in a trip through tipographics arts, the book is an outstanding example of engineering freedoom, A R T. I flip the book for less than 2 minutes,enough to know this is the kind of book you have and you travel with it every once in a while. a book with an incredible echo. Thanks ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

METAFONT is a system for the design of symbols and alphabeticcharacters suited to raster-based devices that print or displaytext. The construction of a typeface is an art form and thismanual is written for people who wish to advance the quality ofmathematical typesetting.

The METAFONTbook enables readers, with only minimal computerscience or word processing experience, to master the basic aswell as the more advanced features of METAFONT programming. Withthis manual, readers will learn how to write a program usingMETAFONT that can customize a type design that already exists,create an entire alphabet from scratch, and create logos orspecial symbols. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Well, if you care about archaic technology
Once upon a time, MF represented the best hope for outline font technology. Then came PostScript, Type 1 fonts, ATM and it became moot. It's a nice graphic programming language and for some mathematically-derived designs it's easier to work with than is, say, Fontographer or Fontlab, but the output is mired in the bitmap world (valiant MF2PS efforts notwithstanding).

Serious students of MF will also need the Computer Modern Typefaces book. And possibly a healthy dose of liquor. But as I said, the language is actually kind of nice (and MF can be used as a simple algebraic calculator if you're so inclined).

It's really paperbound
Most of the people who order this book will already know quite a bit about it, so I won't say much about the book itself. I will point out, though, that it is softcover, not hardcover. (The book linked to by the "softcover" link is spiral bound.) On the other hand, I haven't succeeded in locating any copies of the "real" hardcover edition. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A longstanding favorite among teachers, parents, and those tasked withboosting office morale, The Print Shop Deluxe can't be beat as a simple tool forcreating posters, banners, calendars, and other cool stuff to hang on walls.The Print Shop Deluxe for Dummies, your ticket to learning to use thistool, is typical of the Dummies series in that no prior knowledge is assumed(other than a general familiarity with Windows), but the book manages to avoidcoming across as condescending. It acknowledges that smart people can have ahard time figuring out software, and proceeds to show you what you need to know.It's funny too!

In a typical section, you learn how to create greeting cards. The terms thesoftware uses to describe different kinds of cards (quarter-fold, half-fold, andso on) are explained, and then you find out how to use the QuickLayout featuresto generate a card in a hurry. (Forgetters of anniversaries, take note.) Youlearn how to create a card from scratch, including borders, graphics, and text(which you can choose from the hilariously named Sentiment Gallery if you can'tcome up with your own bon mot). A sequences of numbered steps (with tips)shows the project at various points during the creation process. --DavidWall

Topics covered: How to use The Print Shop Deluxe for Microsoft Windows.Sections address particular kinds of publications suited to The Print Shop,including banners, certificates, business cards, forms, newsletters, and fancystuff like coffee cups and T-shirts. An eight-page color section shows how ThePrint Shop works with color. ... Read more

Book Description

For fifty years, the Type Directors Club has encouraged the worldwide graphic arts community to achieve excellence in typography through its annual international competitions. Typography 25 is the only annual devoted exclusively to typography and presents the finest work in this field for the year 2003. Selected from approximately 2300 international submissions to the fiftieth Type Directors Club competition, the 240 winning designs are models of excellence and innovation in the use of type design, encompassing wide range of categories, including books, magazines, corporate identities, logotypes, stationary, annual reports, video and web graphics, and posters.

Celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the TDC competitions and the silver anniversary of the TDC printed annuals, Typography 25 is nothing less than a remarkable showcase of the year’s most innovative typographic design.