Book Review - "ABC's of Type - a guide to contemporary typefaces" by Allan Haley
"ABC's of Type" covers twenty common typeface families, and breaks down information on each typeface into three sections including "Attributes", which explains how to easily identify the typeface, "Background", which gives a history of each typeface, and "Considerations for Use", which gives recommendations on not only when it is appropriate to use the typeface and what sizes and spacing that readability problems occur, but what other typefaces it mixes well with. Since this book came out in 1990, some of the information may be a bit dated, as digital type is a wee bit more prominent than when Macs had only been available for six years.
The book mixes type history and use suggestions with the occasional dry humor. For example, in this description of Century Old Style:
Where other typefaces, which have a similar range of abilities, can become commonplace or unexciting (sort of a typographic vanilla), Century Old Style maintains a personality and a presence (more like a French vanilla).
The book also praises Helvetica (while later admitting that Univers is superior) for its ease of use as well as Memphis, two fonts that I really dislike. Memphis is probably best currently known as the font that Burger King uses for their stupid jokey "Have It Your Way, my stoner friend" patter printed on every single food container*, not to be confused by Serifa, used by Seagate for their stupid jokey "Hard drives are hip!" patter printed on all their FreeAgent documentation. I consider all this further evidence of the evils of stupid ugly slab serif fonts. According to the book, Memphis has been called, "Futura with serifs", though I much prefer, "Futura, only butt-ugly".
I enjoyed this book, though seeing the words "charming", "elegant", and "inviting" did get a bit tedious at times. But thanks to this book, I think I'll try Baskerville in boring copy where I would have used Times New Roman in the past. Fascinating to hear this, I'm sure.
-- Schwa ---
* - This by the way, is a trend that needs to die now. I can't eat fast food anymore. It's not because the carcinogens are slowly killing me or how each time I eat a Wendy's chicken nugget it feels like there's fungus growing in my throat, but rather this annoying ad copy written on everything that's supposed to sound like lame, "Aren't I clever" jokes my non-existent stoner college buddies came up with, even though it was probably concocted in a boardroom by marketing jack-asses after researching several test demographics. I'm sick of this shit. Packaging is not your buddy. You can make me happy by using this extra ad space for coupons for my eventual triple bypass or perhaps pictures of college girls in their panties having a pillowfight while eating large, drippy, messy hamburgers. I'm not picky.
The book mixes type history and use suggestions with the occasional dry humor. For example, in this description of Century Old Style:
Where other typefaces, which have a similar range of abilities, can become commonplace or unexciting (sort of a typographic vanilla), Century Old Style maintains a personality and a presence (more like a French vanilla).
The book also praises Helvetica (while later admitting that Univers is superior) for its ease of use as well as Memphis, two fonts that I really dislike. Memphis is probably best currently known as the font that Burger King uses for their stupid jokey "Have It Your Way, my stoner friend" patter printed on every single food container*, not to be confused by Serifa, used by Seagate for their stupid jokey "Hard drives are hip!" patter printed on all their FreeAgent documentation. I consider all this further evidence of the evils of stupid ugly slab serif fonts. According to the book, Memphis has been called, "Futura with serifs", though I much prefer, "Futura, only butt-ugly".
I enjoyed this book, though seeing the words "charming", "elegant", and "inviting" did get a bit tedious at times. But thanks to this book, I think I'll try Baskerville in boring copy where I would have used Times New Roman in the past. Fascinating to hear this, I'm sure.
-- Schwa ---
* - This by the way, is a trend that needs to die now. I can't eat fast food anymore. It's not because the carcinogens are slowly killing me or how each time I eat a Wendy's chicken nugget it feels like there's fungus growing in my throat, but rather this annoying ad copy written on everything that's supposed to sound like lame, "Aren't I clever" jokes my non-existent stoner college buddies came up with, even though it was probably concocted in a boardroom by marketing jack-asses after researching several test demographics. I'm sick of this shit. Packaging is not your buddy. You can make me happy by using this extra ad space for coupons for my eventual triple bypass or perhaps pictures of college girls in their panties having a pillowfight while eating large, drippy, messy hamburgers. I'm not picky.