“Typography is not mere typesetting. It is processing visual language to enhance its strength and clarity.”
This book has been completely rewritten and redesigned as Listening to Type: Making Language Visible. It is a companion volume to the Second Edition of The Elements of Graphic Design. The new version will be released in 2016.
Thinking in Type: The Practical Philosophy of Typography is the most densely packed book I have written. You surely get your money’s worth with this! It has four sections: Type and Design; What Readers Want; Creativity; and Typography Timeline.
It covers technical aspects of letterforms and type like parts of letters, readability vs legibility, and type classification. And it has a thorough four-chapter history of letterform and type development. But what separates this book from any other on the subject is the philosophical attitude. How do we look at type? Are “not-letterforms” actually the most important part of type? What is the attractive power of type abstraction? What is right with your type?
Extraordinarily, a book with an extremely similar title, Thinking With Type, came out weeks before mine did. “With” has a yellow cover. You may have seen it on Amazon. Ellen’s book is quite good, and I recommend that you check it out, but we cover different territory.
“Wow – at last. Here is a practical, exciting reference book that will stimulate the student as well as the professional typographic designer. It really is a good book.” Ed Benguiat, Typographic Designer Emeritus
“Packed with information – fact, images, names, quotes – Thinking in Type offers a highly personal, thought-provoking, inspiring and sometimes controversial view of the history, culture, theory, and practice of typographic design.” Maxim Zhukov, United Nations Typographic Coordinator
Published by Allworth Press in 2005.
Alexander W White 