(3.5) First book I've read on this topic, learned a bit
I liked the historical discussion as well as the brief introduction to the terminology of typef(3.5) First book I've read on this topic, learned a bit
I liked the historical discussion as well as the brief introduction to the terminology of typefaces and typography. I wish Garfield spent more time here so that he could use the more precise language to describe many of the fonts that he discusses.
Did a good job of using the fonts themselves in the text (though from a few bugs in the ARC it looked like maybe they were pasted textboxes on top of the text?--how daunting a task to be responsible for the typesetting of a book about typography!), but sometimes he refers to typefaces that either a) he doesn't show at all or b) doesn't show the specific letters to which he refers in the text. It would've been cool to show the full alphabet of each font that gets discussed (though maybe that'd've gotten expensive?).
Wished he dove into kerning a bit more...how to tell when it's good/bad and show how often the spacing between letters varies based on the actual pairs of letters abutting one another. Makes me curious how you fully specify a font: can you specify different kerning or even letter shapes based on the surrounding letters?
The little vignettes on specific typefaces were pretty cool, though they kind of appeared randomly between some chapters, not sure the reasoning. I guess they might've gotten burdensome if they all came at once.
One other criticism: a lot of time was spent on corporate logos, advertising etc. I guess it's a place where font choice is very noticeable, but I kind of preferred the discussion of use of fonts for books, periodicals, online.
Overall though learned a fair amount...again mostly the terminology: counters, bowls etc.
Tidbit that I hope will stick with me: I didn't know the difference between typeface and font: typeface refers to the whole class of fonts that include the various sizes and weights of a typeface, each specific combination of which defines a single font (e.g. 12 pt courier new bold)....more
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