Synopses & Reviews
The Visual Dictionary of Typography is a comprehensive guide to the numerous terms used within typography and its associated disciplines.
Over 250 terms are explained and contextualised, with concise definitions accompanied by illustrations and examples taken from historical and contemporary typography. The dictionary covers traditional, manual practices and processes as well as modern terminology. It also defines a wide variety of practical terms, such as Point size,Leading and Gutter, as well as movements and lettering styles includingGothic, Reductionism, andConstructivism.
The Visual Dictionary of Typography is an invaluable reference tool that improves the reader’s understanding of the professional terms applied in the world of typography.
Review
AVA Academia Publishers, based in Switzerland, specializes in textbooks for the applied visual arts. This small volume is one in a series of 20 books in the AVA "Fundamentals" series. This second edition (1st ed., 2003) includes new examples of the principles (including their historical origins) of print and digital design. Color-coded chapters provide an imaginative layout. The book includes examples of design projects that illustrate specific concepts and terminology. Contact information for design firms, given at the end of the book, is a good source of current information for students. Each chapter concludes with two student exercises. A "Working with Ethics" section at the end of the book provides a case study that encourages readers to consider ethical issues in the work of graphic design. This up-to-date textbook is reasonably priced and would be a good reference for graphic design students. Schools with programs in graphic design would do well to consider the entire series.
Summing up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates, graduate students and faculty.
N.M. Lambert, University of South Carolina Upstate
Choice
Synopsis
"The Fundamentals of Creative Design" (second edition) is an update to the popular first edition of the same name, in which Gavin Ambrose and Paul Harris introduce students to the various aspects of the graphic design. This volume provides a fresh introduction to the key elements of the discipline and looks at the following topics: design thinking, format, layout, grids, typography, colour, image and print and finish. This updated edition includes new and revised content and images, giving the volume a more contemporary feel.
Synopsis
The Fundamentals of Typography (second edition) is an updated version of the popular first edition of this book, in which Ambrose and Harris introduce the fundamental principles of typographic theory and practice. It covers a wide range of subjects, including the history of typography, typographic detailing and the use of creative typography across a range of media. Packed with clear explanations, expanded illustrations and historical and contemporary examples from leading practitioners around the world, this book offers an essential guide to the subject of typography and its role within graphic design. The second edition includes considerable new and revised content from the authors, including new case studies and student exercises.
Synopsis
The Fundamentals of Typography offers an overview plus incisive insight into the use of type and stunning examples sure to inspire typographers and designers in the field. A comprehensive introduction to the history of typography, typographic detailing in practice, and font generation for print and the web, this book covers type in the past and the present--and speculates on the future. Basic principles are explained with detailed presentations, illustrations, case studies, and examples from leading design studios around the world.
About the Author
Gavin Ambrose is a practising graphic designer whose client base includes the arts sector, galleries, publishers and advertising agencies. He has written and designed several books on graphic design, branding and packaging.
Paul Harris studied at the London College of Communication and has gone on to become a freelance writer and editor. His work has appeared extensively in magazines and journals on both sides of the Atlantic, including style bible Dazed & Confused.
Table of Contents
3 D 3 Deep Design Abstraction Accents Advertising Aicher, Otl Alignment Alphabet Ambiguity Ampersand Anatomy Approach Appropriation Arabic Architectural Barnbrook, Jonathan Baskerville, John Bass, Saul Bauhaus Bell Gothic Bézier Bibliotheque Billboards Bit map Blackletter Bodoni, Giambattista Books Boundaries Braille Branding Brignall, Colin Caslon, William Caption Cartlidge Levene Carving Caxton Cinema Classification Clothing Collection Color Column Comic Commission Complementary Computer hardware and software Condensed Constructed Constructivism Contrast Corporate Counter Craft Cross head Crouwel, Wim CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) Cyrillic De Stijl Decals Denotive / Cognitive Digital fonts Dingbats Drop caps Eckmann Eclectic Editorial Egyptian Ellipsis Em / En Emergency Environmental Ephemera Ethics Expert Families Fashion Fixed width Flourish Folio Font Food Footer Footnotes Foundry Freelance Frost Design Frutiger, Adrian Frutiger’s grid Garamond Gill, Eric Gothic Graffiti Graphic design Grids Guttenburg Gutter Hand drawn Hang line Harts Rules Header Hierarchy Historical Hot metal House style HTML Humor Hyphen Hyphenation Identity Indexes Information Inspiration Instructions International Style ISTD Italic Johnston, Edward Kelly, Ellsworth Kerning Labels Languages Latin Leading Leg Legibility Legislation / Inclusivity Letraset Letterpress Ligatures Linotype Livery / Transport Logotypes Magazines Manutius, Aldus Maps Mark making Measure Metrics Miedinger, Max Mix Modernism Money Monograph Mosaic Motion Movement Movie posters Moving image Museums and exhibitions Music Names Neugebauer, Michael Newspapers Numerals Oblique OpenType Optical illusions Optics Organizations Ornaments Orphan Outdoor media Outline Overprinting Packaging Parenthesis Perception Personification Pharmaceutical Pilcrow Point size Postage stamp Poster Postmodernism Print finishing Pro Product Proofs Propaganda Publications Pun Punctuation Quotation marks Ragged Readability Rebus Recto / Verso Reference Relative units Relief Research Studios Rivers Rosetta Stone Roundel Sacred texts Scale Scientific characters Script Sculpture Serif Shape Signage and wayfinding Signature Signwriting Sketchbook Slab serifs Small caps Solidus Specimen Books Spiekermann, Erik Stamps Stencil Stories Stress Studio Studio Myerscough Studio NB Style Style sheets Superiors and inferiors Swash Swiss Typography Tabs Text blocks Texture The Horizontal The Vertical Themes Title sequence Tools Tracking Tschichold, Jan T-shirt Two in ones Type boxes Typeface Typogram Typographer Units Utilitarian Vector Venetian typefaces Vernacular Websafe fonts Websites Weight Weingart, Wolfgang Why Not Associates Widow Wordshape Wraps X-height
Zapf, Herman