Title Details

The late Ben Day was Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University. He also taught at Boston University and had been a Visiting Designer at the University of Connecticut. His many exhibitions included the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the New York Type Directors Club, and the New York Sculpture Centre. The Boston Society of Printers awarded him a teaching fellowship. He served as a consultant to Bostonia magazine, NASA, and the Fogg Museum, and art directed Handel and Haydn magazine. He was selected for Who's Who AmongAmerica's Teachers.

The late Philip Meggs was a designer, educator, and author. He was School of the Arts Research Professor, Communication Arts and Design Department, at Virginia Commonwealth University; visiting faculty at Syracuse University and the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland; and contributing editor to Print magazine. He authored more than a dozen books and 150 articles and papers on design and typography, including a section on graphic design in Encyclopedia Britannica. He was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame and received its Educator's Award for lifetime achievement and significantly shaping the future of the fields of graphic design education and writing. He was posthumously awarded the AIGA Medal for design leadership.

1 The Evolution of Typography 1

From the origins of writing to Gutenberg’s invention of movable type 2

Typography from Gutenberg to the nineteenth century 7

The nineteenth century and the Industrial Revolution 12

Typography in the twentieth century 18

A new century and millennium begin 27

2 The Anatomy of Typography 31

Letterforms analyzed 32

The typographic font 35

Historical classification of typefaces 38

Typographic measurement 42

The type family 45

3 Syntax and Communication 49

Typographic syntax 50

Typographic space 60

Visual hierarchy 64

ABA form 70

4 Legibility 75

Distinguishing characteristics of letters 76

The nature of words 78

Capital and lowercase letters 79

Interletter and interword spacing 79

Type size, line length, and interline spacing 80

Weight 81

Character width 81

Italics 81

Legibility and color 82

Justified and unjustified typography 85

Paragraphs and indentions 85

Legibility and electronic page design 87

Typographic details 88

5 The Typographic Grid 91

Background 92

Structure and space 92

Proportion 94

Single column grids 97

Multi-column grids 100

Modular grids 105

Improvisational structures 110

6 The Typographic Message 111

A multidimensional language 112

Verbal/visual equations 115

Function and expression 121

7 Typographic Technology 125

Hand composition 126

Linotype 127

Monotype 128

Ludlow 129

Phototypesetting 130

Digital typesetting 132

Electronic page design 134

8 Typography on Screen 139

Rendering type on screen 140

Selecting typefaces 143

Legibility factors for on-screen typography 146

Programming for Web design 148

Structuring Web pages 150

Case studies in Web design 152

9 Case Studies in Typographic Design 161

Integrating type and image in poster design 162

The U.S. National Park Service Unigrid System 166

Book design: VAS: An Opera in Flatland 169

Typographic film titles 173

Buenos Aires Underground (Subte) 176

Information design: Metropolitan World Atlas 180 A typographic program for the 17th Street Farmers’ Market 184

10 Typographic Design Education 187

Generation of a typographic sign

from a gestural mark 188

Letter/digit configurations 189

Urban letterform studies 189

Inventing sign systems 190

Letterform analysis 190

Flowering typography 191

Sequential typographic forms in space 191

Visual organization and grid structures 192

Introduction to systems design 193

Designing with a single letter 194

Typography and image transformations 194

Experimental compositions with found typography 195

Syntactic explorations using onomatopoeic terms 196

Type chronology booklet 197

Expressive typography: form amplifies message 198

Computer improvisation and manipulation 198

Observing systems in our surroundings 199

Interpretive typography: exploring legibility and impact 200

Symphony poster series 200

Information design: changing typographic parameters 201

Typographic cubes 202

Calendar typography 202

Unity of form and communication 203

Typeface history posters 204

Visual identity program 204

Type in Motion 205

Blending Latin and non-Latin typographic forms 205

Type and image in the third dimension 206

Comparative relationships: type and image 207

Directional poster: from your house to the university 208

Graphic-design history posters and booklet 209

Animated Web site flash pages 210

Typezine: my favorite typeface 211

Type history posters 211

Typeface design: mind/machine 212

Experimental typographic system 213

Banknote design 214

Type as metaphor 215

Form and counterform, scale and proportion: “Ne var, ne yok?” 216

11 Typographic Design Process 217

A traditional model 218

Processing typographic form and ideas 219

Typographic process case studies 225

Experimental typographic transformation 230

Now Projector: Design as Projection 238

Typographic book covers 245

12 Type Specimens 251

Old Style 253

Adobe Garamond 254

Adobe Minion Display Regular 260

Additional Old Style fonts 266

Sans serif 269

Univers 55 270

Meta Normal 276

Futura Book 282

Additional Sans Serif fonts 288

Transitional 291

Baskerville Regular 292

Georgia 298

Additional Transitional fonts 304

Modern 307

Bauer Bodoni Regular 308

Additional Modern fonts 314

Egyptian 317

Serifa Roman 318

Archer 324

Additional Egyptian fonts 330

Selected Decorative fonts 332

A chronology of typeface designs 334

Glossary 336

Bibliography 346

Picture Credits 348

Index 352

". . . Typography has undergone continuous change. This book provides a concise and comprehensive overview of the fundamental information for effective typographic-design practice." (neopoprealismjournal.wetpaint.com, March 2012)

‘A two column-layout provides space to cram in a huge amount of content-a comprehensive guide to type on the web.’  (.net, July 2012)