Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age

by Louise Fili and Steven Heller

Book Overview

A must-have for designers, not to mention that quirky group in love with type for types sake (you know who you are), Typology is the most visually dynamic compendium of typefaces on the market. Steven... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811823083
• ISBN13: 9780811823081
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.7" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

Excellent reference book for any designer

I purchased this book as a text book for a Type and Image class, and I was pleased all around with the book. Not only is it well-produced with great, full-color images, thick pages and a flexible yet durable cover; it is well written giving the reader a good background in type and graphic design from the Victorian era right up to and including the digital age. After reading this book, I am much more knowledgeable of designer's names, type faces they created, aesthetics and theories of design. The book is divided into chapters based on design movements such as Victorian, Art Nouveau, Dada, Avant Garde and Commercial Modernism allowing the reader to find specifically what they want. Within each chapter, they talk about how these movements affected design in different regions of the world, and they touch on major products and designers of each era and region. This is a great book for any design student or professional to have in their library. Great content and the perfect reference book to have on hand. Highly recommended!

An Excellent Book with Great Insight

I have read many type books in my career, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The examples and historic value are insightful, thoughtful, and well illustrated by examples of each movement. I bought this book and used it several times as references for my class. This is a wonderful book, easy to read, and I would recommend this book to anyone studying graphic design. This book stands out and I would bought this book twice because I lost the first one.

Indispensable

This book, which is a close cousin of Heller's and Fili's Deco/Modern series ("Deco Type", "French Modern", "Deco Espana", etc.), is not just a book of fonts. It has plenty of those, and in complete form, so you can use them, but the emphasis is on excellent graphic design and how distinctive, intelligently-used fonts feature in it. This is made vivid with lots of illustration (much of it in color) and lots of text, which is informative, insightful, and very analytical. This is an essential reference and educational tool: students should consider it a small investment, and I can't imagine a professional designer being without it around the office.The emphasis is rightly placed on early to mid-twentieth century design, but the book is fairly comprehensive, with enough of the Victorian Era and the Digital Age to justify its subtitle.The book itself is a nicely-bound softcover with thick pages and good, clear reproduction.

Excellent resource book

As a grad student in Graphic Design, one assignment was to explore typography at a higher level than from my undergraduate studies. This book is a treasure find and definitely worth the money. The book not only provides concise information about how type has transformed our world, but the colour examples are brilliant. From Pre-modern Victorian England, throughout Europe and the United States, the reader is taken on a delightful journey of experimentation in an often misunderstood or under appreciated topic. Till the last page ending in late Modern I was capivated. The authors did a very good job in balancing facts with inspiring illustrations. The only warning is that there is a great possibility that nothing else will get accomplished if you purchase this book. I couldn't put it down!

What a Great Type Book!

Heller and Fili have done it again. If you love type, and want to get an eclectic overview of the development of typography in the twentieth century you will enjoy this book. . It's also a perfect companion to read with Heller's Graphic Style book. I use the pair as textbooks in the History of Graphic Design class I teach at Parsons School of Design in NYC.