You’re cruising down Main Street and you start pointing at business signs and logos speaking to no one in particular you say: I have that font, that one and yep, I have that one too! You see a CD-ROM of fonts in the bargain bin for $5.00 and even though you already have 99.9% of them you buy the CD anyways. You show off your font collection to your non-designer friends and they just stare blankly at you. Your home dcor is nothing but your own typography work. No matter how, you obtain a really old software version of Fontographer and you get utterly excited, even though it won’t run on your current computer. Your font collection contains fonts for both the Mac and the PC even though you only have one computer You get into font family wars with your designer friends. You find that your font collection exceeds the capability of the font management software that you just bought. The CDs containing fonts are getting out of control and you decide to put them all on an external 200gig hard drive and they still won’t fit. Every object you see in everyday life is soon turned into a dingbat or a wing ding. Your printing service recognizes you as soon as you drive into the parking lot. You are forced to uninstall a number of fonts because the operating system can’t handle your working collection. Finding out that you are running out of storage space for your fonts, you turn towards that little bit of extra space on your web site server. You can’t receive any e-mail because you took up too much of your web server space for extra fonts. You find out through haggling that your custom neon light manufacturer will give you a huge price break if you throw into the deal your font designs

When was the last time you strolled around and found yourself staring at banners, ads, billboards, pub signs, road signs, graffiti, shop fronts and the like? This could actually be the healthiest form of typography inspiration. You know, endorphins and another bunch of health benefits. However, on top of everything, walking helps you explore the city, filling your head with every typographic element out there, in the streets. It also gives you the temper of a dashing ‘types’ anthropologist, as a walk it’s also a good opportunity to do some research in interaction and context. Typographic signs can really change your mood, stop you from entering a restaurant or encourage you to keep reading the words on a banal blue plaque on a wall. No, this is not cheap psychology, it’s just me going through these stages and realizing the incredible power of a type. Most likely you’ve already been there, done that. If, for whatever reason you can’t enjoy the great outdoors, you can still have access to the amazing world of street typography, because there are more and more online magazines collecting and displaying the ‘streets’ for all those interested. Have you seen NYCtype? It’s a great online project that collects New York City typography. But maybe you prefer Chicago. Or London types in what seems to be a quest to photograph all of the interesting, quirky, old, young, odd, lovely, yummy, gorgeous and beautiful type around the city. Probably a rougher kind of street typography from Eastern Europe is more to your liking. Or you want it all in one massive international cocktail of ‘words on walls’, like those on Pinterest. Technology is so advanced these days that you can even take a virtual stroll wherever you want and take screenshots of types in icy Stockholm while you’re melting away in Perth. So, do not underestimate the power of typography in odd places or in plain sight. It’s free and, literally, all around you. images courtesy of helenography.net

We can all agree that typography is an essential part of web design. We can also agree that we can’t take our eyes off smart typography, especially when it mingles with other design elements. While browsing around, we came across these five homepages where typography takes centre stage and, quite often, jumps off the page. Just Dot  Here’s a classic example: typography and design merge into one clear-cut message. The sketchy fonts take most of the space. They are inviting and create a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. You even feel like doodling along. Ipole Cat Another playful example of typography mixed with design elements. Observe the touch of anthropomorphism that makes any other overpowering design element redundant. Foxie Tiny types in essential places. You just want to take them, snuggle up with a warm cuppa in front of that window and just read. Ego Pop  If you don’t either want to touch these or eat them, then they failed. Bon Appetit! Jesse Willmon  With this one, you just can’t help yourself moving the pointer over all the grey sketches to check up the hidden colours.

There are articles you always save for later, send to your Kindle or read during an extended lunch break. These are the texts that break the daily online routine. We’ve put some of the most exciting encounters of the last 7+ days in this post. Let’s take a look and see what we’ll talk about over the weekend: A Critical Approach To Typefaces Smashing Magazine goes again beyond the noise and wonders "What is it that makes a typeface or any other design good?". Simplistic, but legitimate question. Of course, there is no established set of features, but the author believes in a body of knowledge that can provide answers and inform a personal view. He came up with a "condensed recipe on how to approach typefaces critically" which should help you select your sources and study materials from these sources. Quite enlightening. Creative Review February: Ken Garland and more Among many other cool things, the current issue of Creative Review features a major interview with one of the great figures of British design, Ken Garland. The interview was taken on the eve of the publication of a major retrospective book on his life and work. Check out the cover designed by Justin Thomas Kay and featuring a typeface Kay created based on the cover of Garland’s Graphics Handbook. Breaking The Rules of Typography The guys at Creative Pro got their hands on an excerpt from the January issue of InDesign Magazin, where graphic designer Nigel French takes a look at when (and why) it’s sometimes a good thing to break the most fundamental rules of good typography. There are 10 rules. Now, go ruffle some feathers… Awesome experiment in responsive typography uses face detection to adjust font size Everybody’s talking about responsive web design, but how often do you hear something about responsive typography? Well, this situation is about to change, as various new techniques encourage type legibility across devices. However, a certain Marko Dugonjić has taken the concept of responsive typography to a new level: using face detection. He calculated the proximity a user is from his or her screen, and then adjusts font size accordingly. It’s looking at you, kid! Celebrating Cassandre: Gorgeous Vintage Posters by One of History’s Greatest Graphic Designers The thrill of browsing through this post can only be equaled by a stroll through a Marcel Duchamp exhibition. On second thoughts, maybe not, but you have to admit this is exciting material, and a great opportunity to remember A. M. Cassandre, one of the most influential graphic designers in history. His graphically groundbreaking work and breathtakingly original aesthetic shouldn’t go unnoticed. You’ll even get to see the iconic 1932 Dubonnet wine posters. Lettering vs Calligraphy This is beautiful: a project seeking to bring together both the craft of drawing letters and the art of writing, but at the same time emphasizing and celebrating their differences. Lettering vs Calligraphy, from Berliners Martina Flor and Giuseppe Salerno. Enjoy! Over: A Photo App For Typography Lovers We end this roundup with… Over. A simple, easy to use app for adding custom typography to photographs. It comes with 28 unique fonts, although you can add a collection of 200+ additional fonts. Have a playful weekend!

If you’re into typography, you know there’s more to life than just staring at types in the street, on walls and websites. You also subscribe to typography magazines that feed your addiction, right? On which you spend a certain amount of money or time, or both. We’re talking about those publications that focus on typography before anything else. Today we give a helping hand to those beginners who are still looking for typography magazines out there to keep them updated with the most important news in the business, new exciting designers and not to be missed events. We picked a few of them today, but we’ll be back with more next week. There is no particular order. How could it be, de gustibus non disputandum est, right? Limited Editions Some of the best print magazines on typography are limited edition, resembling a luxurious extension to an online shop or publication. Codex, the ‘journal of letterforms’, is a limited edition print magazine, or a hybrid of magazine and journal, as they say. It’s one of the best-selling print magazine out there for graphic designers, teachers, students, and everyone who has any interest in fonts, graphic design, lettering, and typography. Scholarly at times, but not dry in tone. Serious, but not stuffy. We also agree that this is a beautiful product, like in ‘pleasing to the eye’. Recently they added a new option: you can now subscribe, thus saving money and ensuring you’ll never miss out on an issue. You can also read past issues for less, in PDF. Font is FontShop’s acclaimed annual print publication of typography and design. Being annual, it might actually be quite good to know that this San Francisco based magazine has a very popular newsletter too. The subscribers are treated to new and free fonts, typographic tips and trends, and important FontShop developments. Issue 007 was published in 2008 and is entitled ‘Rule Makers/Rule Breakers’. It features a selection of art and design projects generated within arbitrary sets of parameters, plus a showcase for the FontShop type library. You can see this particular 40-page issue online too. Back to Uni Since the universities are providers of fresh new original material, you should definitely consider some of their publications. Here you have two of them: Typography papers is an irregular collection of good things edited and produced at the Department of Typography, University of Reading. This book-length work publishes extended articles on its subject, exploring topics to the length to which they want to go. Being an academic publication, its scope is broad and international, its treatment - serious, but also lively. You can find details about contents and browse through its pages before buying it. The Typographic Hub is part of the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design at Birmingham City University. The Hub works to promote the history, theory and practice of typographic design. It is a busy centre for the study of printing and typographic history, theory and practice.  You’ll come across articles on all aspects of the history, theory and practice of typography, printing and the allied trades. The Hub is more like a magic door to a lot of resources: articles, books, podcasts and much more. It might even talk you into studying typography.

There’s no big secret behind the popularity of textured types. They are fun, but they can also be realistic, and quite often they can be realistically funny. It’s about that extra touch that helps your mental circuit imagine and recreate the message carried by the words themselves. However, grungy types can be the result of the meticulous tinkering of designers, but also the accidental works of nature on mural typography, street engravings or advertising banners with a twist. Quite often the results are impressive and they can be a great source of inspiration if you’re working on new types. Here we are, rummaging through the piles of material out there. From urban to chintzy, from obvious to surprising, we put together a varied range of examples. Click on the images to find out more about the designers behind them.

Time to hit the exhibitions, people! Not the virtual ones, the real ones, with displays on walls, mingling and all. At least that’s what the articles we came across this week brought to our attention. There is a significant amount of awesome typography exhibitions out there and you should try them. It’s a bit like typography sans frontières. But fear not, there’s more to this week’s roundup. Let’s start! Celebrating Typography In Chicago March 1 is a good day to be in Chicago because that’s when Typeforce, the 4th annual event celebrating typography and lettering, starts. The exhibition features some of today’s youngest, strongest, and most contemporarily relevant design, type, and lettering talent. You’re in for quite a treat. Handmade Type Experiment by Tien-Min Liao This is the work of Tien-Min, a New York based communication designer. His new project, "Handmade Type", is a self-initiated typographic experiment exploring the relationships between upper-case letters and lower-case letters. It also records the transformation between them. Inspiring stuff, take a look! In Berlin, A Museum Of Letters For Typography Lovers Typeface geeks who happen to be in Berlin, gather around!  Don’t miss Buchstaben Museum - also known as the Museum of Letters, because it celebrates our beloved typefaces. This is the home to hundreds of letters that have been "rescued" from public spaces and folded businesses. Huge letters, gotta see that! Nokia Pure / Typography Exhibition This is no breaking news, but the ‘Nokia pure’ topic stirred new conversations online these days, and we enjoyed revisiting it. The exhibition that took place some while ago promoted the new font ‘Nokia Pure’ designed by Dalton Maag. The story goes that London design agencies were asked to produce artwork using the new font. Many magazines, such as Creative Review wrote about it, and the whole experience is a good example of celebrating the birth of a new type. Find out more about it here.  Adobe Proposes New Standard for Better Web Typography In its effort to bring better typography to the web, Adobe came up with a new proposal for the so-called ‘Automatic Text Balancing’.  What does this mean? It means that if browsers adopt text balancing it’s the end of typographic unsightliness like widows, orphans and ragged lines, and would go a long way to creating more readable text on the web. Learn more! How to Tell Your Client That Some Typefaces are Better than Others   This article deals with the agony of choice. Nothing too philosophical though, more like practical advice for designers faced with the grueling task of choosing between fonts and types for a design. It mainly works like a puzzle, where you have to find the right pieces. The author goes one step further and brings "dealing with what the client wants" into the equation. So, how do you tell your client that the font you chose is better choice than the one he wants? Tricky indeed. Swirls of Liberated Words Become Dancing Sculptures Meet Ebon Heath, a master of words, whose work should conclude our roundup beautifully. His typography sculptures transform the written word into what he describes as a "new language of physical type." The printed letters get a three-dimensional existence. Magic! Read on. And don’t forget to have an inspiring weekend!

Last week we talked about typography magazines and we focused on the print, limited editions and university publications. This week we continue our discussion with a couple of veteran online publications and more print magazines. Baseline is an international first rate periodical for typography and graphic design matters published three to four times a year. This serious venture provides a rich mixture of articles and reference materials on our dear typography, of course. The contents are deliberately eclectic and the editorial stance is open, valuing especially originality of thought, while giving due weight to academic research. Typographic ‘scoops’ have helped to retain a high level of reader loyalty, some inspired by board members, such as the discovery of McKnight Kauffer’s ‘missing’ designs, initiated by Alan Fletcher. Distinguished designers, educators, authors and design critics such as Ken Garland, Steven Heller, Arnold Schwartzman, Helmut Schmid and Prof. Ian McLaren publish in Baseline. So, yes, it’s one of those renowned publications with high editorial, design and production standards. In their own words, Eye is a collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about design and visual culture. Needless to say, typography holds a special place in their heart and you’ll always come across great articles in this area. For instance, in the latest issue you can read about The Anatomy of Type: A Graphic Guide to 100 Typefaces and Typographic Fundamentals among many other great reviews and features. The FontFeed was launched in 2008 and is a daily dispatch of recommended fonts, typography techniques, and inspirational examples of digital type at work in the real world. You’ll also read about the latest in typography, lettering, and type design. Not to mention those basic tips and advanced tutorials. The blog combines the insightful voices of prominent design writer Jürgen Siebert and typography expert Yves Peters, with occasional contributions from Erik Spiekermann. I love typography (ILT) is turning 6 years this year and it’s the blog of John Boardley, the graphic designer and writer who also publishes Codex. Remember? This is a true declaration of love to typography and you’ll fall for it too. In John’s own words, this site aims to make the subject more accessible, to bring the study of typography to the masses, if you will. Where do our letters originate? Why do they look the way they do? And what makes for good type and typography? Well, read on and you’ll find out. We can only hope these publications opened up your appetite for typography. If you have read other print or online cool typography magazines you’re excited about, do let us know. By the way, which are your favorites? And why?

Here’s a neat infographic that explains the differences between serif and sans serif fonts. You’ll learn when to use one over the other as well as examples and web usages. Let us know what you think!

We’ve been browsing through virtual bookshelves and picked 15 covers that caught our eye. What’s special about them is the intense use of typography to the detriment of other design elements. Whether you just admire the book, browse through it or end up buying it, the typography on the cover can obviously add extra appeal. Our selection focuses on non-fiction book covers, for the simple reason that these are powerful books which tackle real events, topical issues, and are the materialisation of months or years of research. So, is anybody surprised that many of their covers are overwhelmingly relying on typography? You’ll find some classic titles, a few fresh best sellers, and a couple of variations on the same titles. The question is, would you like to read any of these books if you’re not familiar with the author or the topic, and all you’re left with are the types used? And do you judge a book by its cover?