Book of the Week: Just My Type

You might not expect a book about fonts to be addictive... Then again, maybe you've already watched Helvetica, and I'm just late to the party. Just My Type by Simon Garfield is seriously addictive. Bite-sized stories about things that surround us and talk to us every single day. They go down easy and make you pay attention to something that you might take for granted (or not... I'm looking at you, graphic design junkies!).

Get the book HERE.

Fonts are not something that can be ignored. They are everywhere—in books, on books, in your car, on your coffee cup, emblazoned across every piece of advertisement that you receive—proclaiming things to be SERIOUS, LUXURIOUS, INTELLECTUAL, HUMOROUS, SILLY, or maybe even EFFORTLESSLY COOL. They are not just serviceable wrappings for communication. They are works of art, or offenders of the eye, and they say things underneath the naked message of the words they portray, coded in the wordless languages of space, proportion, and line.

In this book, Simon Garfield tells us the stories of some of the fonts, both famous and obscure, that surround us today. He lavishes them with enthusiasm and sharp detail, introducing us to the people and circumstances that created such celebrities as Arial, Times New Roman, and Helvetica. He is often funny and always entertaining, and you will quickly find yourself more deeply invested in the subject than you might like to admit. Read this if: you swoon over graphic design, enjoy curios, or think Chip Kidd is a genius.