I suck at typography
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- mcfly0
I'd strongly strongly recommend getting 2 books by Willi Kunz; the first being Typography: Micro and Macroaesthetics. I forget the name of the other.
Brinhurst is a must for any serious typographer. These books however give you some groundwork for fundamental exercizes in scale/contrast/spacing, etc. Search for his name if you can't find them on amazon. weorkforthem.com probably has at least one of the2.
The read more, read more, practive, and train your eye. Be a fascist for detail. It all happens there.
focus on fundamentals before exploring--you need to know the basics:
"rules are good; break them"
- mcfly0
EricJ does you a great disservice. Like any artform, of course typography is something you learn. that is a given
But seeing it with "clarity", and having skill mean understanding fundamental rules and type history. I am a self taught designer by and large, practicing for 10 years now and when I got serious with the reading is when I got serious with my design.
I'm sure there are tons and tons of esigerns on NT that coudn't tell you what a humanist serif face was, or what a rational axis was, or give any historical insight into the reasons they choose typefaces other than trend or taste.
history and type fundamentals, which have evolved over 375 years cannot be ad-libbed, and if you don;t know them, in my opinion, you will never be able to make truly informed typgraphic decisions.
you are an artist who happens to work with type then, and these are 2 different things. Not a bad thing, but if you want to get good w/ type, learn your shit. You'll be more confident as you practice, which is of course the only other toool you have to train yourself.
- sauerbraten0
matthew is shitting gold nuggets. i however, don't know what a 'rational axis' is.. I FEEL DUMB!
knowing when to use and when not to use a typeface is crucial, and having a better understanding on the breadth of type available. i'm struggling through Die Neue Typography, Jan's a toughy to get into..
- fate0
North, mcFly, Saur, et al. thanks again. Looks like I have some reading in my future.
I'm a self-taught designer that has reached a point where my skill make "pretty" things exceeds my skill making "fundamental" things. That's why I feel I need better grounding in basic areas.
- nick0
mcfly, well said!
- tank0
design books are boring...what the hell...
- nick0
maybe you shouldn't be a designer, then?
- rasko40
draw letters by hand, make compositions in letraset, look closer at what you see, learn from what you hate, love what you see.
- fate0
Was that quoting me, tank?
- rasko40
the simple is your pimple if you neglect the intellect.