When I first seriously thought about making the jump I spoke to my husband - who is a designer - and he recommended that one of the things I should be learning about was type. He then gave me a stack of his books which I dutifully ploughed through.
I feel there are two stances on typography which are exemplified by the two main books I read:
The 'anally retentive, never goes to parties and has a constant tension headache' group, represented by Robert Bringhurst's 'The Elements of Typographic Style', and the 'fit for purpose, lets not get to serious' approach represented by 'Stop stealing sheep and learn how type works' by Erik Spiekermann and E.M.Ginger.
Actually, I tell a lie, there is also the typography pornography group, who just love looking at crazy type.
The thing is, as with most things, you have to know the rules before you can ignore or discard them, and it is good to have a strong foundation in theory, to understand how things do and don't work.
Some useful sites and articles I have found whilst educating myself about type:
The Typographic circle have a very good learning section
A beginners guide to pairing fonts
upscaletypography.com
typographyserved.com
typography.com
Good online typography shops:
myfonts.com
Veer's online font shop
Both these sites are generally pretty cheap and showcase what the current fashionable fonts are - good for keeping your finger on the pulse.
Type Porn:
welovetypography.com an image board of beautiful typography examples submitted from readers.
Be Type - personally my favourite site from this list - fun, loose, fashionable, and doesn't take itself to seriously, just posts amazing type.
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| Image from MaricorMaricar Studio via BeType |
