Today, however, he moved me out of my complacency by posting a history of his commutes, from 1976 to the present. I can only go back to 1999 with this counter-post.

• 1999: 45 minutes by car from Providence, Rhode Island to Taunton, Massachusetts
• 2000: 20 minutes by car from Providence, Rhode Island to Pawtucket, Rhode Island
• 2000: 30 minutes by El. train/foot from Chicago (Belmont) to Chicago (Navy Pier)
• 2001: 20 minutes by car from Central Falls, Rhode Island to Providence, Rhode Island
• 2001: 25 minutes by foot from Providence, Rhode Island (East Side) to Providence, Rhode Isand (West Side)
• 2002: 60 minutes by train from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, DC
• 2003: 60 minutes by S-Bahn from Wiesbaden to Offenbach
• 2004: 90 minutes by S-Bahn from Wiesbaden to Bad Homburg
• 2007: 60 minutes by S-Bahn from Offenbach to Bad Homburg
• 2009: 330 minutes by train from Berlin to Bad Homburg
• 2011: 90 minutes by train from Berlin to Braunschweig

I win, Mr. Simonson!

This post isn’t a definitive list of books on the typographic subjects; it is not as good or as complete as longer lists I’ve seen compiled by Gerry Leonidas or James Mosley, for instance. I like my list a little better than Type Library’s list; but mainly because, well, this is my list. I recommend the series of book lists at Typefacts, too. There aren’t any general graphic design texts below, though, as my course offerings at the moment are rather specific.

I teach in Germany and expect all of my students read both English and German at a high level. There is no preference toward one language or another on my list. If a title has been translated from English into German, I try to mention both editions. On occasion, I have students who can also read Dutch, French, Russian, or other languages; there are excellent resources available in these, but I cannot read them (yet).

TypeOff.de is not currently involved in any affiliate programs, over Amazon or otherwise. Links to Amazon.de are listed as a convenience; feel free to purchase books wherever you like. For my own shopping, I search for out-of-print books via used.addall.com. If you live within travelling-distance of Berlin, I recommend purchasing books in person from the Mota Italic Gallery & Boutique, on Schliemannstraße 34 in Prenzlauer-Berg. Several of these books will be available in your university libraries, too.

There are books that I do not find particularly good, of course, and these books are not on my list. However, lack of inclusion on this list is not per se the opposite of an endorsement.

My list will be updated and expanded from time to time. This is version 1, from October 13, 2011.

Jump to: Type Design, Type History, Typography

Type Design
Carbarga, Leslie, Learn FontLab fast. Los Angeles: Iconoclassics Publishing Co. (2004). Amazon.de price: currently not available; purchase directly from the author.

Carbarga, Leslie, Logo, font and lettering Bible. Cincinnati: How Design Books (2004). Amazon.de price: €22.99; also available directly from the author.

Lawson, Alexander, Anatomy of a Typeface. Jaffrey, New Hampshire: David R. Goodine (1990). Amazon.de price: €19.99.

Noordzij, Gerrit, Letterletter. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks (2000). Amazon.de price: €19.99.

Noordzij, Gerrit, The stroke: theory of writing. London: Hyphen Press (2006). Amazon.de price: €17.95. Also available in Dutch and French editions, from other publishers.

Osterer, Heidrun und Stamm, Philipp, Adrian Frutiger Schriften. Das Gesamtwerk. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag (2008). Amazon.de price: €99.90. Also available in English and French editions.

Smeijers, Fred, Counterpunch: Making type in the 16th century, designing typefaces now. Second edition. London: Hyphen Press (2011). Amazon.de price: €33.50.

Smeijers, Fred, Type now. London: Hyphen Press (2004). Amazon.de price: currently not available.

Tracy, Walter, Letters of credit: a view of type design. Boston: David R. Goodine (1987). Amazon.de price: currently not available.

Type History
Burke, Christopher, Active Literature: Jan Tschichold and New Typography. London: Hyphen Press (2008). Amazon.de price: €42.99.

Burke, Christopher, Paul Renner: The Art of Typography. London: Hyphen Press (2008). Amazon.de price: €18.99.

Carter, Harry, A View of Early Typography Up To About 1600. London: Hyphen Press (2002). Amazon.de price: €30.99.

Friedl, Friedrich; Ott, Nicolaus and Stein, Bernard, Typografie: wann, wer, wie. Hagen: Könemann (1998). Amazon.de price: currently not available. This bok is tri-lingual; all texts are printed in English, French, and German.

Johnston, Edward, Writing and Illuminating and Lettering. Charleston, South Carolina: Nabu Press (2010). Amazon.de price: €30.99. This is the most-recent edition; the book has been reprinted several times since 1906. The book was also translated into German by Anna Simons in 1910 as Schreibschrift, Zierschrift und angewandte Schrift; that is also available in multiple editions.

Kapr, Albert, Fraktur: Form und Geschichte der gebrochenen Schriften. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt (1993). Amazon.de price: €34.80.

Kinross, Robin, Modern Typography. London: Hyphen Press (2004). Amazon.de price: currently not available.

Malsey, Victor und Müller, Lars, Helvetica Forever: Geschichte einer Schrift. Baden: Lars Müller Publishers (2007). Amazon.de price: €30.00. Also available in English and French editions.

Middendorp, Jan und Spierkermann, Erik, Made with FontFont. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers (2009). Amazon.de price: currently not available.

Mosley, James, The Nymph and the Grot: The Revival of the Sanserif Letter. London: Friends of the St Bride Printing Library (1999). Amazon.de price: currently not available; purchase directly from the St Bride library.

Staub, Kurt Hans and Zimmermann, Erich, Bücher als Kunstwerke. Kostbare Handschriften und Pressendrucke aus der Hessischen Landes und Hochschulbibliothek Darmstadt. Darmstadt: Lehrdruckerei der TH Darmstadt (1982). Amazon.de price: currently not available. This book may be purchased directly in the TU Darmstadt library.

Tschichold, Ivan, Elementare Typografie. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt (1986). Amazon.de price: currently not available.

VanderLans, Rudy, Emigre No. 70 – The Look Back Issue. Berkeley: Gingko Press (2009). Amazon.de price: €36.79.

Typography
Bringhurst, Robert, The elements of typographic style. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks (1992). Amazon.de price: currently not available.

Butterick, Matthew, Typography for Lawyers. Houston: James McClure Publishing (2010). Amazon.de price: currently not available.

Forssman, Friedrich and de Jong, Ralf, Detailtypografie. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt (2004). Amazon.de price: €98.00.

Forssman, Friedrich and Willberg, Hans Peter, Lesetypografie. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt (2005). Amazon.de price: €39.80.

Gill, Eric, An Essay on Typography. London: Lund Humphries (1988). Amazon.de price: currently not available.

Hochuli, Jost, Das Detail in der Typografie. Sulgen, Schweiz: Niggli (2005). Amazon.de price: €18.00. Also available in English, from other publishers.

Kupferschmid, Indra, Buchstaben kommen selten allein. Sulgen, Schweiz: Niggli (2004). Amazon.de price: €34.00.

Lupton, Ellen, Mit Schrift denken. New York: Princeton Architectural Press (2007). Amazon.de price: currently not available. Also published in English, French, and Portuguese editions.

Spiekermann, Erik, ÜberSchrift. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt (2004). Amazon.de price: currently not available. Originally published in English as Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works.

Willberg, Hans Peter, Erste Hilfe in Typografie. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt (1999). Amazon.de price: €12.80.

Willberg, Hans Peter, et al, Schriften erkennen. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt (2003). Amazon.de price: €12.80.

Willberg, Hans Peter, Wegweiser Schrift. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt (2001). Amazon.de price: €12.80.

From May 9–13, 2011, I took a week’s vacation to conduct a type design workshop at the Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule in Halle. It was an honor to be invited, and I was glad to go. A number of friends of acquaintances of mine have studied design in Halle, like Nina Stössinger and Roman Wilhelm. Both Alessio Leonardi and Severin Wücher taught at the school recently. The school has a long typographic tradition: Herbert Post, one of Rudolf Koch’s Offenbach students, joined the school’s staff in 1926; he remained in Halle until fleeing from the GDR to West, in 1950. The workshop was made possible by Andrea Tinnes, professor for lettering and typography in Halle. It was Andrea who invited me the school, showed me around Halle, and planned out the week perfectly. I couldn’t have imagined a better short teaching experience.

My goal was was to tie into the Halle tradition a little bit with my workshop. I have it the title, Schriftgestaltung anfangen!, which means something like, “start designing type!” However, I was pleased to see that several of the students already begun just doing that earlier on in the studies, and so had some interesting experience with type design, calligraphy, or lettering. Before the week began, I emailed all of the participants, and asked them to go out into the streets of Halle and make photos of signage lettering. They should especially focus on older signs – be they painted, made of neon, cut out of metal, or carved into stone. The older the sign, the less likely it was to be based on a specific printing typeface.

On the workshop’s first morning, the students picked their favorite images. Over the course of the week, students vectorized these letters in FontLab Studio, FontStruct, or Illustrator. Then they drew additional letters, to match the outlines they already had. While very few students in the class had much prior experience with FontLab Studio, almost everyone was using it by the end of the week. Some students learned in the in’s and out’s of the program faster than I thought possible.

Halle sits in a unique location, about 90 minutes from Berlin and 30 minutes from Leipzig. Although the city itself is picturesque – full of students, low-cost living, and excellent beer – several of the workshop participants had already moved to Berlin or Leipzig, and commuted to Halle when necessary. Like Leipzig, much of Halle has been renovated since German reunification; the central parts of the city feel rather new and lively. The students at the Burg are spread out across town. The communication design department is grouped together with a few similar fields of study on the impressive Neuwerk campus, situated on the bank of a tributary of the river Saale. The Neuwerk campus seems like it must be a hamlet of a place to study, with an attractive crop of buildings vaguely grouped together around a cafeteria courtyard. There is even a campus bar inside of main building.

Some of the student work from the workshop appears below, as well as a few photos of our classroom itself.

 

Julia Beyersdorf

 

Robert Frentzel

 

Manuel von Gebhardi

 

Falko Gerlinghoff

 

Julia Günther

 

Robert Haselbacher

 

Felix Herbst

 

Christine Merz

 

Bernd Montag

 

Frank Montag

 

Falk Schwalbe

 

Falko Seyfferth

 

Franziska Tanner

Thomas Phinney wrote to me once that, “offering a course type design in Darmstadt is like going to Jerusalem to teach religion.” This may indeed be so; to walk down the path a little bit, my students and I will spend our semester looking into more of Darmstadt’s typographic tradition. We’ll be visiting the rare books department of the TU Darmstadt library, where the Kleukens Collection is housed. And of course, we will also pay another visit to Haus für Industriekultur, to look at Monotype matrices and freshly-cast metal type fonts from the old Stempel and Haas foundries.

Although all of the computers in my elementary school were Apple products – color Apple IIs, I think – the PCs that my parents used while I was growing up were not. While I probably began to play rudimentary PC games around 1984, and I spent most of the 1980s with game–console–envy, it wasn’t before 1994 that I thought very much about the Macintosh. Since that time, I haven’t ever wanted to use anything else.

I was quite active in the Boy Scouts. In January 1994, I joined the team of local Scout newsletter from Baltimore, MD. This was produced on Sunday afternoons at a local pre-press studio. To this day, if I had to make a sketch of what heaven should look like, it would be the inside of this company. It was full of Macs – the best models of the day, of course. There was also oodles of other equipment, but only one Windows PC, which was relegated to a corner. I decided to study graphic design because of my experience with this newsletter. In fact, for many years, I thought that graphic design was DTP, and that wrapping text blocks around images and editing images in PhotoShop was the pinnacle of what graphic designers could do.

Of course, I learned in school that graphic design is a means of transporting narrative; that it is a system of visual communication with roots going back hundreds or thousands of years. I fell in love with typography and type design, and learned about the differences between both fonts and typefaces, and between the designers behind them.

At RISD, I only worked with Macs. Just before college, my parents bought a crazy Performa desktop machine for me; during my third year of school, I bought my first PowerBook. Another PowerBook followed this, then an iBook, and finally the MacBook Pro I type with now. I never worked with a company that was PC-only. I bought iPods in 2003 and 2006, am currently on my second iPhone and first iPad. I downloaded songs from the iTunes Music Store on the day that it launched. Their Podcast delivery system changed the fabric of my life; wherever I find myself, I’m never without music or other audio content anymore.

Jürgen Siebert has already written very effectively (in German) about the more concrete role that Apple and the Macintosh played in the development of DTP, publishing, and today’s system of font distribution. But Jürgen left one detail out of his article: Altsys Fontographer. This application was one of the first digital font editors available for any personal computer – although there were alternatives, including Ikarus M. Many of today’s type designers got their start with Altsys’s product, which was later sold to Macromedia and eventually to FontLab. I’m no different in this regard. I licensed my first copy of Fonotographer from Macromedia in 1999, while still a RISD student. All of my initial, terrible stabs at type design were done on a Mac in Fontographer. Only later, when I started working on commercial products in 2005, would I upgrade to FontLab. Today’s new UFO-based type design applications are all Mac-only. When I run PC software – like Microsoft’s VOLT – I do so on a Mac, in a Windows partition.

The products and the ecosystem that Jobs helped create struck me in 1994 as purely magical. Today, even if I understand them better, they still fill me with awe. Without Jobs’s vision, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am so thankful, then, for Steve Jobs (1955–2011).