Alexander Lawson’s Anatomy of a Typeface is an informative historical study of classic typefaces starting from Goudy Text and the Black-letter Types. Each typeface was designed to serve a particular purpose and Lawson explores the reasons behind it. It’s on my re-read list.

In Shaping Text, Jan Middendorp writes:

A good jazz musician will master different styles and genres in order to feel in control in various formations or in jam sessions. A professional graphic designer, too, will have to improvise and find ways of communicating all kinds of contents in all kinds of circumstances.

In Design Elements: Typography Fundamentals, Cullen writes:

Type for the web, as well as digital devices and gestural interfaces, meet challenges because conditions vary, unlike fixed mediums such as print. Multiple browsers, platforms, and screen sizes present type differently. Typefaces suited to one might not suit another. Expect the unexpected in digital realms. Be flexible and responsive. Digital formats know no bounds. Unlimited virtual space offers potential unseen in other areas.

In the introduction of Designing Type, author Karen Cheng writes:

Type is the visual manifestation of language. It is instrumental in turning characters into words, and words into messages. In music, the quality of an individual singer can completely change the experience of a composition. In communication, type is the visual equivalent of an audible voice – a tangible link between writer and reader.

In the preface of Letters of Credit, Tracy argues:

The use of typography is a matter of taste as well as sense; and the fact that typographic letter forms are an inexhaustible source of interest and pleasure is a thing to be grateful for.

His view on type as human creation:

Not long ago it was taken for granted that the people most interested in type faces were those who used them, or actually created them: typographers, publishers, printers and, of course, type designers themselves. But in recent years another set of people, quite different from those with direct involvement, have developed an interest in printing types. They are the academics—the mathematicians, computer scientists, psychologists, even philosophers—who have found it worth their time to theorise about the nature of letter forms as human creation, one of the things that other animals do not have.

He concludes:

Typography may be no more than ‘a minor technicality of civilised life’, as Stanley Morison remarked, but it deserves the best we can give it.

In White, Hara writes:

Despite the cultural boundary between East and West, and the technological gap dividing those civilizations, the sense of beauty attached to typeface has been cultivated through the simple act of placing characters on paper. In this regard, Guttenburg’s cast type and Chinese woodcut printing share a common feature. Letters became independent objects through the sheer fact of being printed in black on white paper.

Overwhelmed with the use of colors he encountered on the streets, graphic designer Kenya Hara turned to white as the most basic and necessary element in his work. This is a short yet fascinating read on the perception of White, emptiness and their essential role in graphic design.

Last year I convinced my supervisor to send me to An Event Apart in Washington DC. The conference was approved and I was excited to learn from best minds in the industry. I attended the first day, but couldn’t make it to the second day. I had to drive back to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to pay my last respect to my aunt who lost her life to cancer.

Looking at the schedule for An Event Apart Washington DC this year, I wanted to go again, but the school doesn’t have a budget for it. So I contacted the organizers, explained to them the situation, pointed them to a tweet I posted last year, and asked if I could attend one day of the conference this year to make up for last year. If one day is not possible, could I just attend Jonathan Hoefler’s presentation?

If the organizers turn down my request, I would understand completely. Business is business, but I did’t think it would hurt for me to reach out to them. Less than 12 hours, I received a respond stating that they make an exception for me this time even though they don’t typically allow attendees to transfer part of their pass to another event.

I was in awed and grateful that they would make the exception. Again, they had no obligation to do it and I would be fine if they said no, but they have shown that An Event Apart is not just about making money. I respect them for that.

Walter Tracy’s Letters of Credit is insightful and opinionated. His knowledge on the aspects of type design (measure, legibility, readability and letter forms) is informative and his criticism of designers and their types makes the book engaging.

Taming the Dragon starts off with pianist Brad Mehldau telling his trippy dream over an atmospheric, organic backdrop. Then the groovy beat from drummer Mark Guiliana interrupts Mehldau’s talk to set off the vibe for the entire album. Mehldau steps out of his jazz tradition to join Guiliana for an experimental journey filled with imaginative (electric and acoustic) keyboard licks backing up by big, pulsating drum’n’bass kicks. Mehliana is, without a doubt, a fruitful and creative collaboration.