Over Thanksgiving break, I had a chance to go through two books on grid. Both Grids and Page Layouts by Amy Graver & Ben Jura and 100 Design Principles for Using Grids by Beth Tondreau are filled with great case studies and informative tips, but they don’t delve into the technical details of designing with grid. If you want to dig deep into the technique, start with Khoi Vinh’s excellent Ordering Disorder first before reading these two books for inspiration. The only thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is in Grids and Page Layouts where the quotes aren’t hanging. I don’t mind serif all-cap typeface, but the unhung quotes are unforgiven.

By turning topics that only type nerds appreciate into accessible storytelling, Simon Garfield has written one of the most engaging books about fonts I have read. From “We Don’t Serve Your Type” (the first chapter on Comic Sans) to “The Worse Fonts in the World,” Just My Type is quite entertaining even for folks outside of the typographic geeks.

This well-written book, a collaboration between Nancy Skolos and Tom Wedell, examines the creative process designers had taken when they approach a project. Even though each case study is unique to the designer and the individual work, one can learn something from all of them. I find Graphic Design Process quite valuable for my own process.

Ari Rafaeli’s criticism on Book Typography is bold, meticulous and constructive. He took Robert Bringhurst to task on small caps and Richard Hendel on a wrong comma (Galliard comma was used in Garamond font). It’s quite an intriguing, sometimes intimidating, read.

My latest interest has been on branding as I am taking a graduate course on it; therefore, I am very excited to see a book titled Branding Typography. It turns out to be a coffee table book. Still worth flipping through when in need of inspiration on branding.

Victoria Squire’s Getting it Right with Type is a great reference for simple dos and don’ts of typography. It’s good to have on hand even though the light khaki texts are a bit hard to read at times.

To fully comprehend type today, you need to know the history. If you’re looking for a quick yet insightful read on the history of type, Alan Bartram’s Typeforms: A History is for you. In a concise approach, Bartram presents a history of type dating back to 1470. With large illustrations and brief descriptions, Bartram shows how type has transformed over the years from Venetian to Twentieth-century Roman. One of the fascinating parts of the book is the beautiful examples of the architectural use of letterings in the early days.

Jan Middendorp’s Shaping Text covers the basics of typesetting and the nuances of typography. Rich visual examples combined with engaging writing make this book a pleasure to read.

From fundamental concepts to branding process to case studies, Alina Wheeler’s Designing Brand Identity is a quick yet comprehensive guide on building a brand. This is a required reading for my class on Brand Identity Design, which only started two weeks ago, and I already plowed through it. The Fourth Edition has many up-to-date information such as new best practices. Without a doubt, this is a book to keep as a reference for designers and Marissa Mayer should have read it as well.

Coady’s brief guide explains color-blindness and provides helpful tips on making design accessible to people with color vision deficiency. Re-reading it for a visual-storytelling project for my graduate seminar class.