Clear communication and readability
This morning I just wanted to remind us that typography is about communication not the shape of the letters.
Continue reading →Category Archives: Font Design
The 12-font bundle offered in Practical Font Design is available now!
Over the years, I have sold quite a few of these bundles, but I never really had a place where it could be purchased and downloaded. Now I do. It’s a value-added offer for readers of the book. Buy the 12-font bundle here
Continue reading →A short note about ebook licensing for your fonts
As a font designer, Monotype is the biggest and best. They have all the top sites: fonts.com, myfonts.com, itc.com, and several more. They are the sites used by the pros, primarily. At the least, the pros sell their fonts there also. These places are where my fonts are sold, in most cases. Ebook licensing is very new I have the entire Adobe library and several others, maybe 4000 fonts total. None of them are licensed for anything other … Continue reading →
Canva adds a nice type glossary
I got an email today about a type glossary at Canva. It’s nicely done. I even learned a new term: Gadzook I wish they’d used a prettier pair of ligatures. They can get real pretty (though the ones from Contenu below have quite a ways to go to reach that level). So, who knew and who cares? These are all terms you need to know to discuss type, fonts, typography and so on. These terms are a good … Continue reading →
Readability is the prime virtue of book design
I decided I needed to beat an old drum. Readability is the focus of book design typography. This was the core of curriculum in my digital publishing degree. It’s the center of my graphic design and book design efforts. Without comfortable, readable content, your book has a severe handicap. What is readability? This is all about book design typography. Here’s a little graphic to show you some of the things that influence how easily you can read a … Continue reading →
On a lighter note: we have a legal replacement for Comic Sans…Comic Neue
One of the most maligned fonts in recent years is Comic Sans. I’ve never really understood why people (especially type pros) hate Comic Sans so bad. But then, it’s really not a part of my life. This is the new solution: Comic Neue! If you click on the image above it will take you to the page where you can download this for free. The change is fairly radical, but it does have a similar feel to … Continue reading →
Hermann Zapf is dead…here’s a video of him working…
Here’s a brief historical article about Hermann Zapf from Creative Pro:
Continue reading →Quick and easy letterspacing in FontLab
I decided to post this. It’s part of my new book, Practical Font Design Streamlined. I found as I was recording the videos for My Udemy course, Practical Font Design, that I had gradually developed a new, much faster, and more efficient workflow for designing fonts. It takes what was in the original three editions of Practical Font Design to a whole new level. This post is going to offer some pieces which will be referenced in the new book. … Continue reading →
Beautiful typography has sadly diminished
There has been a disturbing trend lately of incredibly gorgeous fonts that make bad typography. How can that be? Beautiful typography has become very rare. To understand that, we need to look at what good typography is. I often tell my students and apprentices this general principle. Beautiful typography is not noticed! You notice and absorb the content. If you notice the typography or font, you are missing the purpose of your design. Here’s an example of a new font … Continue reading →
Newly digitized Doves Type font designer finds old lead type in the Thames
Here’s a fun article from CreativePro about the process. Many people do not realize that a lot of the “free type” and a good deal of the professionally designed type is made from or started with digitized characters from printed works using old letterpress fonts outside of the copyright period (normally pre-1940, at this point, in most cases). Doves Press type is one of those The link to the typespec.co.uk site gives more info on the discovery. … Continue reading →