“The essence of the New Typography is clarity,” said Tschichold. Even though Tschichold had abandoned his own position of The New Typography, the principles provided in this handbook are still practical for contemporary design. Read it and keep it in mind for projects that required bold, no-nonsense communication.
For a book on type, the body text is barely readable. The font size is way too small. I ended up browsing the type specimens instead of reading the designers’ biography. The content seems to be good and I wish I could zoom in on the text, but it is not a web site. I hope that the book gets a redesign in the near future with larger and more comfortable text for reading.
A concise-yet-comprehensive reference on type designers. Each brief bio complemented with a beautiful illustration and a list of the designer’s typefaces make this book a quick source for typographic design and inspiration. The design of the book is gorgeous.
Visualgui gets another makeover in less than two months. Somehow I was having the urge to go for a Swiss design. What I still love about this style is the ability to reduce everything to the core. This redesign is a quick one because I took out things from the previous design rather than added anything new. I reduced the number of typefaces and columns to one.
Proxima Nova, by Mark Simonson, is the only typeface used in this version. I wanted to play with the wordmark a bit. On the desktop version, the wordmark changes to vertical display. I also wanted to use a sans serif typeface for body text, something I haven’t done for a while.
Another big change in this new design is white space—lots of white space. I am still obsessed with white space and simplicity. Even though I could have used the previous design until 2016, I just wanted to make the change before the start of the new semester, which is next week. I will be focusing on my final project, teaching, and doing a handful of projects at work and home. I just hope that I won’t stress myself out. Doing a redesign like this actually helps releasing some of the anxiety. I am going to bed and will spend all day tomorrow with the kids.
Even though my little bookshelf is packed, I can’t help scooping these books at bargain prices:
The typesetting of the book itself has issues—justified text in narrow column—but it features some great typographic examples. Not a bad book to flip through to find inspirations from the past. Got it at a bargain price.
Demetri Martin’s Live (At the Time) is a Twitter-style comedy. He had gone through an hour of one-liners like: “I want to see a snake eat spaghetti;” “Fall is the only season that has two names, as if it has gone through a sex change;” and “I think Jesus was one of the first scarecrows.” They are short, but well-crafted. Though not a fan of quick jokes, I still find this routine enjoyable.
Dr. Lunde has accomplished a daunting task of putting together a 900-page reference on computing text in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Like Robert Bringhurst who wrote the eloquent foreword, I find this book useful, particularly the coverage of the Vietnamese language. A must-have guide for anyone interested in typography beyond the Latin alphabet.
I am pleased to announce that one more boy will be joining our little family early next year. I nicknamed him Done because we’re done with baby-making after him.
I must confess. I was hoping for a baby girl—even the boys wanted a baby sister so that mommy won’t be outnumbered—but we are happy with what we get as long as the baby is healthy. He is doing great so far.
My poor wife has been going through quite a bit of challenges in the first trimester. She has been experience nausea and fatigue much longer than she had in the past. She bears all the pains in carrying a new soul. Mad love and respect.
A breezy and beautiful introduction to the world of typography around us. Striking photography and brief design backstory make it a pleasurable and informative visual reference for both casual and serious typographic apprentices. Currently on sale on Amazon for $5.56. Can’t beat that bargain.