Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design

by Jan Tschichold

Book Overview

Dieser Band vereinigt die wichtigsten Aufs tze Tschicholds zu Buchgestaltung und Typografie: ein Handbuch, das immer wieder befragt werden kann. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0881791164
• ISBN13: 9780881791167
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Hartley & Marks Publishers
• Length: 191 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The essential guide to classical book design

there is little to say other than the fact that this book is essential reading for all current and aspiring book designers. Tschichold's views seem limiting at first, but his knowledge is based on years of careful research into the basis of our written culture. many will choose to deviate from his instruction in small or great ways, but to practice the craft of book typography (or typography in general) without this information would be unwise.

A must read for any designer.

This collection of 23 essays on book design and typography should be read at least once by all typographers and students of design. Written over a period spanning 42 years, these essays cover many aspects of typography from paper color to tight typesetting to page proportions. A few of the ideas presented in the essays may indeed be outdated now (due mainly to the economic freedoms in modern digital design), but they are few and are still important from an historical persective. Folloowing the rules of design presented here will help ensure a well designed book that does not detract from the contents in any way and best serves to allow that content to speak for itself. Even if you want to always break the rules of design, isn't it better to understand why and how those rules came to be? Of interesting note is that Jan himself was in his youth a radical rulebreaker in his designs, but he learned when it was best to work inside and outside the rules to present the best effect, his design legacy shows how effective he was, and how influencial he remains to this day.

A masterly exposition of typographic excellence

For those who work in design, or those who just love books, Tschichold's work is a must-have. It'll cause you to re-evaluate your own work - and it will also let you look at the books your reads with a new appreciation. The book itself is well-designed, too... as one might expect!

Changed the way I look at books.

I'll never look at a book or booklet again without judging it against the conventions set forth by Mr. Tschichold. Book size, type style, readability, binding, paper, text block placement, aesthetics and a dozen other minor details will not escape the scrutiny of my newfound expertise.

Read it. Learn it. Live it.

High-handed, even pompous, Tschichold doesn't coddle the "I gotta be me" crowd. He lays down the laws of type and, by God, they work. You can bend, even break, his rules and still do great work. But you must do so consciously for a specific purpose, not willy-nilly because you feel like it. As Robert Burton put it "A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than a giant himself." This giant has broad shoulders, indeed. Standing upon them will give one an excellent view