typeworship:

Review of the reviews: Typography Sketchbooks

Before buying Steven Heller and Lita Talarico’s book I did some research to see what other typography-minded designers were saying about it. Here I’ve summarised their reviews and given an average rating.

ISBN 9780500241387, 24.50 x 18.50 cm, 368pp, Thames & Hudson

Aimed at all those who use type, whether by hand or on-screen, this pleasing compendium stresses the importance of good typography and celebrates a craft that has endured for centuries, says Steve Buffoni in Typojungle: Typography Sketchbooks gets into the minds of designers who create typefaces, words, images and logos through their private drawings.

The sketchbooks collected together showcase a range of uses, writes Christopher Murphy in 8Faces: as a tool to ‘think through’ ideas; as a means of documenting process; as a record of history, or aid memoire; and as a place to capture fleeting ideas.

“And it really doesn’t disappoint!” said David Watson in TypeToken: The book’s image-focussed design showcases the work to maximum effect, with just the right balance of accompanying informative text about the designers’ creative process, their design philosophies, inspirations, techniques and influences.

A good job too at half a kilogram and over 368 pages, the book features 900+ illustrations but successfully manages to vary the pace, diversity and keep the reader interested by featuring playful and illustrative typographic sketches next to clean and calculated typographic drawings. Andy Smith, Alex Trochut and Javier Mariscal sit alongside Erik Spiekermann, Sumner Stone and Matthew Carter.

My only criticism might be the legibility, said Kathrin van der Merwe in typografie.info, the decision to print matt blue print ink on a dark gray background, and to put the designer’s explanatory text on a transparent surface over the sketches, in some cases makes it fairly difficult.

This should be required reading for anyone studying typography, said Murphy, and is just the inspiration required to spark - or reignite - a sketching habit.

If you find this useful and have a suggestion for other typography related ‘Review of reviews’, please get in touch. JC