Wednesday 30 March 2011

Just my type

I'm a graphic designer by profession and, though you'd never guess, fonts are my stock in trade. I have to admit never giving much thought to the fonts used on typewriters. Even now, I wouldn't have a clue how to identify the fonts on any machine I own but I'm sure further digging in the Typosphere would help. There's a lot of enthusiasm among some typerati for certain fonts - just recently schordzi's industrial archaeology resurrected Spencerian. Blazing a trail from analogue obsolescence to a bright, if contraversial, digital future. So, I thought readers might be interested in this book. I read Just My Type a few months ago and thought it was really interesting and would make a good primer for anyone with a developing interest in typefaces, the thinking behind them and the use - and misuse - to which they are put. Typewriters, Dymo and Letraset (remember Letraset?) all get a mention in passing, but the book concentrates mostly on printers' fonts, from Guttenberg to the present day. If you haven't read it, you can download a publisher's sample here. [3.6Mb pdf]

Rush hour

I went for a walk between typecasts...