I have been collecting Typography related resources for a while now. I must admit that personally to me this is an acquired taste. I had no idea about Typography until my little guy came along showing some strong preference to usage of some fonts over others. As young as a 3 or a 4yr old, he would insist on using certain fonts for certain documents, or titles or body of the text that he was creating on the computer or chose books with certain fonts to read. He would even critique our choice of fonts in our writings or emails. And his font obsession became progressively worse as he grew older.
We were totally clueless as to what it all meant when he obsessed with either admiring or critiquing the choices of certain of fonts, sizes and colors in the brochures, newspapers or advertisements he came across. That is when I learned that the fonts had 'names' and 'characters' or 'personalities' as he called it. I noticed that he was able to not only give me the name of the fonts, the families of fonts they were part of, and designers who designed those fonts, but also narrate why they were beautiful and a better choice for a particular document. Any program, ad or printed sheet of any kind was not thrown in the recycling bin until after he got a chance to say something about the prints/fonts. We have found it even more strange to see him not only rant off font names as well as the names of the designers who created them, but also details about when they lived, how they died, who took over selling those fonts, how it was related to other similar fonts, and to the details of how the letter 'f' or 't' was different in two different families of fonts (a slight curve that I would not have spotted until he showed it to me), and the like at a very young age, as a 4 and 5yr old. And I could not help but wonder what was the purpose of all this information anyways!?! and why he was so fascinated about it.
Dh was absolutely impressed when ds was able to identify over 200 different fonts and he could identify them from any book he was given. This became a game to all families and friends, something very unusual, and we all awed at his interest and ability to give us specific details about the fonts in any book we handed to him. He knew the titles of the books, publishers, writers and their preferences of towards certain fonts in some of their books. And this craze went hand in hand with all the normal things usually kids of his age would do. He went through a obsession with dinos phase taking great pride in the ability to remember 200 different dinos and identifying them more based on specific details of habitats, when they lived, who was eaten by whom etc. Miniature dinos of all shapes and sizes accumulated all over our home. Then got added to it was the miniature car collection phase of the different car makes/names. Come to think of it, I have always known him to be a kid of in-depth passionate interest and knowledge on things. But I was surprised that he was able to do so with fonts?! His obsession with fonts is still going strong even today:). He actually asks for fonts as gifts for his birthdays and has been getting Adobe fonts for the past three birthdays. And whenever we drive past Adobe his face just lights up:) And it is his most favorite and passionate hobby.
So what does he do with his passionate hobby? Well, whenever he finds time, I spot him writing and creating fonts doodling away. His documentation creating time is spent mostly on beautifying fonts and presentation. He has his own handwriting with his own created fonts and he writes beautifully when he is allowed to use it. Ds has enjoyed many Typography books and resources so far. He also tries to play around creating new fonts using web resources. It took a while for me(and my dh) to realize that his font craze and interest as Typography, thanks to the friends in the Tagmax list, as they shed the light on this one. To me personally ds taught me a whole new perspective of fonts and fonts usage and I don't think I noticed the fonts beyond what they meant as letters prior to that:).
Ds is also a 'tester' of a new Typography college course. And he will be offering feedback to his prof about the course and the material this winter quarter. He is also set to take a Graphic Design and Typography college course in Spring on campus. He is really excited about the new opportunities. I am not sure how much of Typography is going to be there in his future. But he sure is loving it a lot currently.
There is no dearth of Typography resources on the web. Here are a few font resources we have bookmarked in the past few years. I hope it is of some use to you.
We were totally clueless as to what it all meant when he obsessed with either admiring or critiquing the choices of certain of fonts, sizes and colors in the brochures, newspapers or advertisements he came across. That is when I learned that the fonts had 'names' and 'characters' or 'personalities' as he called it. I noticed that he was able to not only give me the name of the fonts, the families of fonts they were part of, and designers who designed those fonts, but also narrate why they were beautiful and a better choice for a particular document. Any program, ad or printed sheet of any kind was not thrown in the recycling bin until after he got a chance to say something about the prints/fonts. We have found it even more strange to see him not only rant off font names as well as the names of the designers who created them, but also details about when they lived, how they died, who took over selling those fonts, how it was related to other similar fonts, and to the details of how the letter 'f' or 't' was different in two different families of fonts (a slight curve that I would not have spotted until he showed it to me), and the like at a very young age, as a 4 and 5yr old. And I could not help but wonder what was the purpose of all this information anyways!?! and why he was so fascinated about it.
Dh was absolutely impressed when ds was able to identify over 200 different fonts and he could identify them from any book he was given. This became a game to all families and friends, something very unusual, and we all awed at his interest and ability to give us specific details about the fonts in any book we handed to him. He knew the titles of the books, publishers, writers and their preferences of towards certain fonts in some of their books. And this craze went hand in hand with all the normal things usually kids of his age would do. He went through a obsession with dinos phase taking great pride in the ability to remember 200 different dinos and identifying them more based on specific details of habitats, when they lived, who was eaten by whom etc. Miniature dinos of all shapes and sizes accumulated all over our home. Then got added to it was the miniature car collection phase of the different car makes/names. Come to think of it, I have always known him to be a kid of in-depth passionate interest and knowledge on things. But I was surprised that he was able to do so with fonts?! His obsession with fonts is still going strong even today:). He actually asks for fonts as gifts for his birthdays and has been getting Adobe fonts for the past three birthdays. And whenever we drive past Adobe his face just lights up:) And it is his most favorite and passionate hobby.
So what does he do with his passionate hobby? Well, whenever he finds time, I spot him writing and creating fonts doodling away. His documentation creating time is spent mostly on beautifying fonts and presentation. He has his own handwriting with his own created fonts and he writes beautifully when he is allowed to use it. Ds has enjoyed many Typography books and resources so far. He also tries to play around creating new fonts using web resources. It took a while for me(and my dh) to realize that his font craze and interest as Typography, thanks to the friends in the Tagmax list, as they shed the light on this one. To me personally ds taught me a whole new perspective of fonts and fonts usage and I don't think I noticed the fonts beyond what they meant as letters prior to that:).
Ds is also a 'tester' of a new Typography college course. And he will be offering feedback to his prof about the course and the material this winter quarter. He is also set to take a Graphic Design and Typography college course in Spring on campus. He is really excited about the new opportunities. I am not sure how much of Typography is going to be there in his future. But he sure is loving it a lot currently.
There is no dearth of Typography resources on the web. Here are a few font resources we have bookmarked in the past few years. I hope it is of some use to you.
- How to make a hand drawn font simple step by step explanation by a designer on how to create fonts.
- Type and Typography A guide to history and science of fonts, types and typography.
- Typographica news, observations, about typography; a typography journal.
- Typophiles appreciation and production of typography.
- Typebooks resource for letterforms and typography.
- The Evolution of Type history of the alphabet and type forms, printing resources.
- ABC Typography a virtual museum of typography.
- PERIODIC TABLE OF TYPE FACES Way too COOL
- Free Typography.com is a free online Typography magazine about great typography works, fonts, courses, inspirations.
- Alphabytes featuring lettering, calligraphy, typography, graphic arts and design.
- Typehaus typography links and type resources.
- Microsoft Typography fonts, type and typography related sites.
- National Print Museum Ireland site. Includes short tour of the museum, brief history of printing in Ireland, and visitor information.
- Type Tips and Topics from Adobe.
- How to create Type Face Laura Mccanna's tips on creating type face.
- Designing Type with Coraldraw Laura's tips on Type using CoralDraw.
- My First Font How to make your firt font.
- Type by design the art and science of digital type face design.
- Printing Historical Society various resources on printing, history, museums etc.
- So you want to creat a font part 1 and part 2 'I love typography' blog article on how to create a font.
- What the font to identify fonts with samples.
- 50 Typography resources you must look at Wonderful resource links, articles, books, inspiration etc.
- Typography Videos logo design process and more.
- Facts about Typographers, designers and their work on Typography online.
- Web Typography Tutorial from Webmonkey
- 3D Typography tutorial from gomediazine.com
- 50 Free Lessons on Graphic Design Theory lessons on various aspects of Typography and Design
- FREE e-BOOK DOWNLOAD Fundamentals of Typography
- Top 100 Types of all times
- Typeface Classifications learn all about the various classifications
- Anatomy of the Typeface examples of different parts that make up the Typefaces
- Learn about Original Format of the typefaces
- Typedia is an interesting site of encyclopedia of Typefaces
Online Articles
- Know your Type: Typographic inspiration
- Designing with Typography
- Upper and Lower Case Magazine
- The Non Typographers Guide to Practical Typeface Selection
- Five Simple Steps to Better Typography
- The Art of Fonts and Typography
e- learning
Typography Lessons
- Practical Typography Tutorials from About.com.
- GRPH 210 Typography course lessons with exercises. Check here for required books, student handouts etc.
- Learning About Typography wonderful tips and 50 free lessons on Graphic Design which also talks about Typography.
- Typography 101 a crash course on Typography.
- Creative Typography a free online course with the syllabus, lectures assignments etc.
For Fun
Bembo's Zoo First book for children. abcedary of animals using Bembo's letterforms and punctuations Typetester visualizing fonts for the screen.
Bembo's Zoo First book for children. abcedary of animals using Bembo's letterforms and punctuations Typetester visualizing fonts for the screen.
Free Fonts to download
- Urban Fonts
- Search Free Fonts
- 1001 Free Fonts
- Dafont
- The League of Movable Type this is a collection of open source fonts
- Font Freak
- Fontso
Helvetica a documentary movie by Gary Hustwit. this movie is about Typography and Graphic Design. Available in Netflix
History of Printing
- A Short History of the Printed Word by Warren Chappell
- A Dictionary of Book History by John Feather
- The Book: The Story of Printing and Bookmaking by Douglas C. McMurtrie
- Making of Books by Sean Jennett
- Five Hundred Years of Printing by S. H. Steinberg
- The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
- Printing Types: An Introduction by Alexander S. Lawson
- Introduction to Typography by Oliver Simon
- The Case for Legibility by John Ryder
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- First Principles of Typography by Stanley Morison
- Graphic Design in America: A Visual Language History by Mildred Friedman
- Getting it Right with Type: The Dos and Don'ts of Typography by Victoria Squire
- Typography Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Working with Type by Ina Saltz
- Designing with Type: The Essential Guide to Typography by James Craig
- Finer Points in the Spacing & Arrangement of Type by Geoffrey Dowding
- Book typography: A handlist for book designers by Hugh Williamson
- Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works by Erik Spiekermann
- Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students by Ellen
- Type and Typefaces: A Treasury of Typography Book by J. Ben Lieberman
- The Fundamentals of Typography by Gavin Ambrose and Paul Harris
- The crystal goblet: Sixteen essays on typography by Beatrice Warde
- Twenty-Two Tips on Typography by Enric Jardi
- The Non-Designer's Design and Type Books, Deluxe Edition by Robin Williams
- Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop by Timothy Samara
- Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design by Timothy
- Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age by Steven Heller
- Getting it Right with Type: The Dos and Don'ts of Typography by Victoria Squire
- 1,000 Type Treatments: From Script to Serif, Letterforms Used to Perfection by Wilson
- U&lc : Influencing Design & Typography by John D. Berry
- Made with FontFont: Type for independent minds by Erik Spiekermann
- New Vintage Type: Classic Fonts for the Digital Age by Steven Heller
- Exploring Typography (Design Exploration Series) by Tova Rabinowitz
- An Essay on Typography by Eric Gill
- Great Web Typography by Wendy Peck
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