Robert Bringhurst has issued the latest edition of what Hermann Zapf called the “Typographer’s Bible”. The news will surely be welcomed by his ardent followers, but does the book speak to a modern congregation?
In 1992, when the first edition of was published, Bringhurst was already an accomplished poet and translator of poetry — most notably poetry, but also Navajo, Greek, and Arabic — into English. He was also a self-trained and accomplished book designer, and Elements was his attempt to catalogue and summarize the best practices of book typography and design, loosely according to the model provided by the book’s namesake, by William Strunk and E. The book was a huge success. Four subsequent editions were published, labeled (somewhat incongruously, given Bringhurst’s approach to typography) versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2. Now, on the book’s twentieth anniversary and eight years after the last release, a version 4.0 has appeared.
It’s hard to overstate the reputation Bringhurst and his book have gained in the typographic community. It didn’t hurt that Zapf blurbed the book’s first edition by calling for the book to become the “Typographer’s Bible”. More recently, have called Elements “the finest book ever written about typography”. It appears on countless syllabi and reading lists, and is one of the “triumvirate” of type books still recommended to beginning typographers and designers, along with Alexander Lawson’s (1990) and Walter Tracy’s (1986). What accounts for the lasting influence and popularity of Bringhurst’s book? Besides the handsomeness of the book itself — Bringhurst continues to enjoy the support of his publisher, Hartley & Marks, with his standards of book design and production — there are three reasons: the range and depth of his treatment, the quality of his writing, and the confidence and generosity of his tone.
Bringhurst’s scope is wide: the fundamentals and finer points of macro- and micro typography, type anatomy and classification; choosing typefaces and page formats; the use of diacritics and other analphabetic symbols (no doubt his experience as a translator of languages that rely on extensive diacritical support in the Latin alphabet has sensitized him to these matters); annotated lists of designers and foundries; glossaries of glyphs and terminology; and more. Besides distilling centuries of typographic expertise, his treatment of it is remarkably thorough: he doesn’t pretend that his book is an exhaustive account of typography, but his care and attention to detail is obvious (in places even overwhelming). And all of it is supported by well-made illustrations and diagrams.
It would be hard to find another writer in English who commands as much knowledge about the use of writing and print to capture language as Bringhurst does, and that he can condense it into 398 pages (in this edition) that many people will read (once more) from half-title to colophon is impressive. The quality of Bringhurst’s writing allows him to pull this off. Knowledge, experience, judgment, and enthusiasm are not always accompanied by writing skill, and like many academic and quasi-academic fields, typography is not flush with talented prose stylists.
But the fact that Bringhurst came to book design and typography from poetry is evident on every page. He is a gifted author used to making every word tell, and his prose is (to borrow Robin Kinross’s description from ) “”. He finds words that capture — more completely than practically any of us can muster — why typography matters. This is most simply and succinctly evident in “first principles”: “Typography exists to honor content.” Finally, Bringhurst’s writing is a perfect match for his tone.
The Elements of Style is actually a poor model for advice and guidance of any sort: Strunk takes an important insight (that writing should be as considered and economical as possible and appropriate) and worries it into dozens of ponderous, crabby, and often questionable commandments. Fortunately the similarities between that book and Bringhurst’s end with the title and the numbered divisions. Even at his most direct, and despite the fact that the book does have the feel and structure of holy writ in places, Bringhurst’s tone is moderate and reflective.
His confidence never drifts into arrogance, and his traditionalist roots don’t prevent him from acknowledging that contemporary themes, subjects, and standards call for contemporary type treatments and approaches. Conservative, yes, but conservative in the style of Edmund Burke: you change what you must to preserve what you can. None of this will be news to most readers here.
But all this being said, is the arrival of a fourth edition of Elements something we should celebrate? Bringhurst has probably taken a book grounded in print typography as far as it can go. But it is, still, grounded in print. It’s hard to believe that a book revised five times in the last twenty years mentions the World Wide Web exactly twice (if you’re willing to accept a mention of “hypertext” for one of them). And don’t look in the index for those passages, because “World Wide Web”, “web”, “webfonts”, “online publishing”, “internet”, “HTML”, and “CSS” don’t appear there.
“E-books” does have two entries. “Linotype machine”, by contrast and with apologies to for saying so, appears twelve times. (“Monotype machine”, in case you wondered, appears four.) This doesn’t mean Bringhurst’s book is obsolete.
After all, there’s no mention of the web in Lawson’s or Tracy’s books, either. Nor will you find any in the books of Jost Hochuli, Willi Kunz, Hans Bosshard, Carl Gerstner, Emil Ruder, Helmut Schmid, Geoffrey Dowding, Nicolette Gray, Daniel Berkeley Updike, Stanley Morison, Beatrice Warde, Jan Tschichold, or Eric Gill. And Giambattista Bodoni didn’t mention the Linotype machine, or even electricity.
That doesn’t mean we have nothing to learn from them, that they don’t belong on the bookshelves of an educated typophile. There are principles of good typography that transcend substrates and technologies. But all these books are products of their times and contexts, and we must read them that way, Bringhurst’s book included. The only new section in version 4.0 of Elements is a two-page examination of metal type (pgs 300–301). “To think about type”, he tells us to introduce the section, “you have to think backwards and forwards at once.” Well, yes — if you’re setting metal type. But virtually all undergraduate designers and typographers presently in school will never do that — in quantity, anyway, if at all. (It’s actually more likely they’ll set wood type.) That’s not to say that it’s a good thing they won’t, or a bad thing, simply that it’s true.
So why do we recommend to them as a central text, as so many teachers and type designers do, a book that, for all its qualities, has an easier time thinking backwards? Of course, students in any field involving typography should read it — must read it — but not first, and certainly not by itself. And not just because it’s grounded in a world of print. Display typography, which surely demands the same care that book typography does, is also nearly completely absent from the text. Even his consideration of type on the screen, smart as it is, is limited to two pages and five paragraphs. More importantly and generally, though, and notwithstanding its range and depth and the generosity and precision of its advice, Elements is far better at exploring the meaning of good typography, at describing outcomes, than explaining process. The debates that brought us to what we value in good typography, the questions that remain contested, the actual means of translating principles into practice for students, are not here.
And shouldn’t necessarily be. Bringhurst is the unofficial poet of typography, and a great one at that. But what I learn from Robert Frost is the meaning of woodcutting, not necessarily how to fell a tree or stack a cord of firewood. The book isn’t without practical advice and we are fortunate that it delivers what it does. But unless Bringhurst plans a considerably expanded version 5.0 that focuses as much on web, mobile, and display typography as it does on the world of books, he should let Elements be what it is: a wonderfully written and wise summary of the world of typography as he found it.
Surely others inspired by the world his text reveals to us, the beauty of his writing, and the thoughtfulness of his approach, can take it from here. Thanks for this well considered and written review. For me, I never considered Bringhurst’s book a bible. Among other quirks, the “historical interlude” chapter (does that persist in the latest version?) always struck me as straining to conform type history to canonical art history (my field of training), unsuccessfully.
But you captured well what is not only useful but also, yes, beautiful about Bringhurst’s book. So, not a bible, but for me a gateway drug to typophilia and thus a treasured part of my bookshelf.
FWIW, my copy is version 2.5, which is not mentioned in the list of editions here. Not only that, but doing another Google search–now that I know what to look for–I see there’s a 2.4 I missed as well, which suggests there are versions 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 out there somewhere, too. My first copy ever was version 3.0, so I’m guessing that subsequent versions of the.second.
edition would have been numbered inside the covers, not outside as with version 3.0 and up, because the only images in that range I can find say ‘second edition, revised and enlarged’ on the covers. And yes, the historical interlude is still there.
Is there any kind of disclaimer or forward in this new edition explaining the lack of content regarding web and display typography? If not then Bringhurst and his publisher owe such an explanation to readers, especially new and budding students of typography.
I love Bringhurst’s fluid and literate prose writing and his extensive coverage of the subject, and at the same time I think Elements is overrated for precisely the reasons given in Maurice Meilleur’s review. Leaving out display typography altogether is a glaring shortfall and testament to Bringhurst’s limitations as a typographer. This book in its first edition prompted Zapf to slap a spectacular label on it; had Zapf not dubbed it the bible of type, would it have been as successful? Given that Zapf’s interest in type design is mainly text faces it’s enough to wonder if Hartley & Marks paid him to say what he said. Lived from February 16, 1740 until November 29, 1813, passing on of the Western world began. Linotype Machines appeared about the same time.
(Source: Wikipedia) So it wasn’t Bodoni’s fault he never mentioned Linotype machines nor electricity. He says they can be set in small caps to enhance the reading flow. For a prose text he is absolutely right. If you have acronyms in a prose text, a novel or a story, the stick out like a swollen neck. If you talk about scientific work, most professionals like those stickouts and use them to skip through the text.
As usual it’s a question of when to apply which style to which problem. Something Mr. Bringhursts continues to stress. No rule he spills in the book is sacred and to be considered holy and unbreakable. He just correctly says that you first need to know the rules and the reasons for them, before you should start breaking them. Robert Bringhurst sent Maurice the following email and granted us permission to post it: Thanks for that courteous, thoughtful (and very well-written) review.
You are of course quite right that the book is still focussed on paper and print, not on typography for the screen, and on text instead of display. I assure you this is deliberate. Another way to put this is that it really is a book about typography, not about graphic design, advertising, website design, or other important related subjects. I don’t (I hope) underestimate the importance of the Web, but personally I am still waiting for the Web and the e-book, as typographic platforms, to grow up.
My learned friends tell me this may actually happen when CSS 3 is fully implemented, so perhaps the wait is nearly over. (You may remember that we had to wait quite a while for the Linotype and Monotype machines to mature into useful typographic platforms too, and then again we had to wait a number of years for digital type to catch up to its slower but more sophisticated predecessors.
Technologies don’t usually spring fully formed from the brows of their inventors.) Meantime, I wonder if you might have skipped over pp 192–4 of the new edition. They are, it is true, rather deeply buried, and the index might not lead you to this passage as readily as it should. “Of course, students in any field involving typography should read it — must read it — but not first, and certainly not by itself.” This was, in fact, the first book I ever read on typography, and though I have read a great many more since, it remains the best. I read Bringhurst for the first time in eighth grade, before I really knew anything about typography and when I was just starting to be curious about how books end up looking the way they do. It made a fantastic introduction.
Lyrical, intelligent, engaging, puzzling and beautiful. I can’t think of a better first read on the topic. I also applaud Bringhurst’s reluctancy to jump on the internet/e-book bandwagon when the field is still so young. I think any attempt to address typography for the screen in a practical way would weaken the book and date it far more than any of his print-oriented advice does. Digital technology changes so fast, and starting with the basics of typography for print provides a good background for people designing for screens anyway.
Print typography has been around for 560 years. When digital typography has been around that long, maybe it too will deserve — and give birth to — an equally thoughtful book. I wonder if the new edition corrects the error in previous editions, viz. The old chestnut about spacing after periods. Bringhurst uncritically repeats the wives’ tale that a single space after each period is the one true faith, and that the idea of using more than one space developed with the appearance of the typewriter. One blog post that demonstrates his error: I learned a great deal from the blog above.
It rejects the thoughtless practice of using two spaces after periods.as well. as the contrary dogma that more than a single space is errant vulgarity. Bringhurst’s book is a classic, but his history when it comes to this detail is completely wrong.
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Renowned typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst brings clarity to the art of typography with this masterful style guide. Combining practical, theoretical, and historical, this book is a must for graphic artists, editors, or anyone working with the printed page using digital or traditional methods. Having established itself as a standard in its field The Elements of Typogra Renowned typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst brings clarity to the art of typography with this masterful style guide. Combining practical, theoretical, and historical, this book is a must for graphic artists, editors, or anyone working with the printed page using digital or traditional methods. Having established itself as a standard in its field The Elements of Typographic Style is house manual at most American university presses, a standard university text, and a reference work in studios of designers around the world. It has been translated into italian and greek, and dutch. I am in the process of transforming myself into a book.
In order to do that, I am having my spine surgically removed and removed and replaced with a smyth sewn binding. My skin is being stripped off in large patches and replaced with 12 pt cardstock with a four color cover and scuffless matte film lamination. I have hired a designer to come up with a treatment for my textual body. I can't take it anymore. Someone please take me off of the shelf and put me in your lap.
I know it doesn't really ma I am in the process of transforming myself into a book. In order to do that, I am having my spine surgically removed and removed and replaced with a smyth sewn binding. My skin is being stripped off in large patches and replaced with 12 pt cardstock with a four color cover and scuffless matte film lamination.
I have hired a designer to come up with a treatment for my textual body. I can't take it anymore. Someone please take me off of the shelf and put me in your lap. I know it doesn't really matter. I know a book can easily burn or mold or be eaten by silver fish or fall apart because the paper is not archival and I don't care. I am becoming a book.
Yes, I seriously read a typographic style manual, but believe me, it was worth it. Not only is this a detailed, informative, and surpassingly witty survey of typography, but it's simply a beautiful book to hold and to read. It's a bit like taking an introductory lesson from a friendly architecture professor, learning about intricacies and critical minutia you had never before considered, and slowly realizing your teacher designed the room, the building, perhaps even the chair you're sitting in, Yes, I seriously read a typographic style manual, but believe me, it was worth it. Not only is this a detailed, informative, and surpassingly witty survey of typography, but it's simply a beautiful book to hold and to read. It's a bit like taking an introductory lesson from a friendly architecture professor, learning about intricacies and critical minutia you had never before considered, and slowly realizing your teacher designed the room, the building, perhaps even the chair you're sitting in, and that the entirety of your surroundings is an expression of the lesson itself. I feel similarly about 's books, except there the classroom is a church, and the professor is a jerk. I picked this up as a sort of sideways approach to improving my web design (planning on moving on to next).
I hope I absorbed a little (because there's a lot to know), but I think the main thing I've learned is a finer appreciation for the discipline. Invisibility is the mark of almost all good design, but good typography is hard to see even when you're looking right at it. Words are hard not to read, but at least now I know to at least try and take a closer look. Did I mention this book is hilarious? There's this one note on setting ragged text, in which Bringhurst cautions against giving software free reign over 'an honest rag.' 'Unless the measure is excruciatingly narrow,' he writes, 'you may prefer the greater variations of a hard rag.
This means fixed word spaces, no minimum line, no letterspacing, and no hyphenation beyond what is inherent in the text. In a hard rag, hyphenated linebreaks may occur in words like self-consciousness, which are hyphenated anyway, but they cannot occur without manual intervention in words like hyphenation or pseudosophistication, which aren't.' The note, of course, is set with a hard rag. I mean, how many ironic involutions can you fit in a paragraph? I guess paragraphs about paragraphs provide extraordinary opportunities. I'm finding myself increasingly fascinated with (and amused by) expertise in all its forms, and this book is a prime example. Parts of it are akin to reading wine labels that speak of odors and flavors you could never even imagine, let alone recognize in a glass of wine.
The specimen section is particularly wine label-like, where Bringhurst analyzes an assortment of notable typefaces. He describes as 'not pretty; its beauty is deeper and stranger than that' (p. Throw in some talk of ascenders and bicamerality and you've got attributes just as arcane and remarkable as 'hay-scented' and 'overtones of kumquat.' Some words I learned and will soon forget: (n): an omission, particularly of parts of a word. (n): a helper.
This book convinced me that there is a lot of art in typography. It convinced me that good typography can make a big difference in how good text looks in a page. And it definitely convinced me that Robert Bringhurst is a stellar typographer. But it hasn't convinced me that he can convey this knowledge effectively. Bringhurst has deep knowledge of typography, and the historical chapter on typefaces alone makes it worth your read. However, in many instances he falls into the trap of confusing trad This book convinced me that there is a lot of art in typography. It convinced me that good typography can make a big difference in how good text looks in a page.
And it definitely convinced me that Robert Bringhurst is a stellar typographer. But it hasn't convinced me that he can convey this knowledge effectively. Bringhurst has deep knowledge of typography, and the historical chapter on typefaces alone makes it worth your read.
However, in many instances he falls into the trap of confusing tradition with quality, and begs most of the raised questions. The chapter on page proportions, as a concrete example, is pure numerology. His style is a little florid for my tastes, and I feel like his love of the subject matter got in the way of his exposition. If you are willing to read past rationalizations and are willing to appreciate just how much someone can love typography, and how it obviously comes through in form and function of this book, I highly recommend it. If you are looking for a guide on specifics, perhaps only a fifth of the book will be of direct use. What a beautiful book!
It almost doesn't matter what this book was about, because it was so thoughtfully laid out and lovely to read, which is in itself a testament to great typography. But the content was equally good. I learned so much about type, from the mundane technical details to the influence of language and politics. Bringhurst's little jokes and anecdotes are the cherry on top. Anyone who is interested in type, words, history, design, art, and all that is good in the world should read t What a beautiful book! It almost doesn't matter what this book was about, because it was so thoughtfully laid out and lovely to read, which is in itself a testament to great typography. But the content was equally good.
I learned so much about type, from the mundane technical details to the influence of language and politics. Bringhurst's little jokes and anecdotes are the cherry on top.
Anyone who is interested in type, words, history, design, art, and all that is good in the world should read this book. Sure, it's simply the best book on print typography out there. That's nice, I suppose, but the content of this book pales in comparison to its form. It's a book on book design that serves as its own case study in effective design. There's not a thing about this book as a book I don't love—the design incorporates so many little touches (marginal notes, a lay-flat spine on a paperback, proper paragraph layout, dead-on perfect justification) that it's a joy just to look at it.
Which is good, because Sure, it's simply the best book on print typography out there. That's nice, I suppose, but the content of this book pales in comparison to its form. It's a book on book design that serves as its own case study in effective design. There's not a thing about this book as a book I don't love—the design incorporates so many little touches (marginal notes, a lay-flat spine on a paperback, proper paragraph layout, dead-on perfect justification) that it's a joy just to look at it. Which is good, because you spend a lot of time looking at the book; the content inspires you to do just that, to learn and notice what good design and typography are. Bringhurst has made something close to a Perfect Book, then explained how it was done.
Oh, and the section on type designers and foundries is worth the price of admission alone. This may be one of the coolest books I've ever used.
This review appeared at a blog. There's a certain incongruity in writing about The Elements of Typographic Style, a book about how to design books, using my Alphasmart Neo, which gives me five narrow rows of heavily pixelated characters. Except this is not true; it is in fact completely in keeping, because one of Bringhurst's messages is, I think, learn about your tools (where a tool might be a typeface or a page design, as well as a piece of software), use the right ones for the job, and This review appeared at a blog. There's a certain incongruity in writing about The Elements of Typographic Style, a book about how to design books, using my Alphasmart Neo, which gives me five narrow rows of heavily pixelated characters.
Except this is not true; it is in fact completely in keeping, because one of Bringhurst's messages is, I think, learn about your tools (where a tool might be a typeface or a page design, as well as a piece of software), use the right ones for the job, and use them well. For producing plain text the Neo is the right tool; it is not the right tool for designing a page or driving tent pegs. Corel draw x13 free download. Bringhurst's book is a modern classic and a 'review' is at best redundant, so instead I'll just make a handful of random comments and saying that lots of people should read it.
In some ways the centre of the book is in this extract: 'The needs of the text should take precedence over the layout of the font, the integrity of the letterforms over the ego of the designer, the artistic sensibility of the designer over the foundry's desire for profit, and the founder's craft over a good deal else.' Indeed, the first subsection of the first chapter is titled Typography exists to honour content.
But how do you recognise the needs of the text and design a page and choose type accordingly? Surely there are essentially three parts to mastery of most things: (1) Being able to physically do it. (2) Being able to tell shit from clay.
(3) Knowing what to do about the shit. (I apologise for the crudity, but the idiomatic force is irresistible.) Sticking to the subject of typography, thanks to computers (1) is now not an issue for most of us.
Where once the physical act of setting type was a skill in itself, even apart from getting the subtleties right, now we can get a first pass just by bunging text into a program, whether InDesign or Quark or LaTeX or whatever, and we can get on with (2) and (3). These require an educated eye and a brain that knows a few rules and tools for finding solutions to design issues, and it is here that this book is so very useful. The title reminds us of Strunk and White, a prescriptive little book about writing; and the quoted text above contains the word 'should'. Educators can argue about the value of highly prescriptive guides. Do the strangle creativity?
Are they even correct? How much of it is purely subjective? A good prescriptive guide should at least give the beginner something sound to start with, and doing what Bringhurst suggests will get you most of the way to a useful, usable result. Deeper mastery will tell you when even Robert Bringhurst should be ignored. It's a bit like Orwell's five rules for writing, which are all definite and clear, and then at the end are followed by 'Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous'.
For me, the ideal of book design is rather like a comfortable, handsome armchair. On the first meeting it is nice to admire it and appreciate its many good qualities. But its main task is to let me engage with the text. Bringhurst makes this point over and again. The typography serves the text.
I guess it is one of those arts that only gets noticed when something goes wrong. The book is (of course) clearly written; it is almost too easy to read. It is (of course) very well designed, and extremely informative. The back cover tells me that Hermann Zapf himself said 'I wish to see this book become the Typographer's Bible.' Who am I to argue?
Maybe the typographic Gideons could make sure a copy shows up in the desk drawer of everyone charge with flanging together the office newsletter. The book could act as a text for a course, a gift to anyone who likes books as objects, or the beginning of an education for anyone who has to design, well, almost anything - not just books, and not just working with text.
I recently read The Form of the Book by Jan Tschichold, an equally, possibly more, prescriptive look at designing books. Bringhurst edited the English translation, as it turns out.
The two have much in common, including a pragmatism that grounds them and makes them at once useful and inspiring. Page 321 suggests that 360' = 1o; I am pretty sure that should be 3600. I'm sure that will be fixed in version 4.1. Should I email the publisher? No, someone will have told them by now.
Within a short time after completing my formal education and entering my profession, I became rather painfully aware that my training in the art and craft of typography had been sorely lacking in many respects. There is an incredibly rich history and a fascinating set of accepted principles and rules which govern typography, the skillful use of letterforms and typeset matter which is a very important sub-discipline of graphic design.
These were practically occult to me early in my career. I had Within a short time after completing my formal education and entering my profession, I became rather painfully aware that my training in the art and craft of typography had been sorely lacking in many respects. There is an incredibly rich history and a fascinating set of accepted principles and rules which govern typography, the skillful use of letterforms and typeset matter which is a very important sub-discipline of graphic design. These were practically occult to me early in my career. I had some vague sense that they were floating around out there and that others were aware of them and made good use of them, but they were as yet undiscovered by me.
Robert Bringhurst Typography
After I languished for a couple of years or so in this state, a helpful co-worker (eternal thanks, Jade!) recommended this book. My well-worn paperback first edition copy of Bringhurst’s respected manual still sits within easy reach on my shelf and I refer to it – sometimes out of necessity and sometimes out of sheer delight – on probably a weekly basis, at least. I would say that its contribution to my career has been inestimable, though I have by no means begun to exhaust the vast store of knowledge on the subject and am always captivated to learn more. There are those who will assert that rules have nothing whatever to do with aesthetic enterprises, to which I say Hogwash! Of course I will grant that the rules have to be employed with a rather loose grip and a free hand, especially when it comes to aesthetics. But even one intent upon bending or breaking the rules (which is appropriate and even obligatory from time to time) must understand them thoroughly if it is to be done with thoughtfulness and effectiveness. (This is true, incidentally, with respect to literature, poetry, music and any other art form as much as it is within the visual arts.) For all its value, Bringhurst’s book is not without its flaws.
In my opinion, these have more to do with what is left unsaid than what is said. (Some of the reviews on amazon.com, while overwhelmingly positive, do highlight this fact.
I would particularly Amen! Virtually every critique offered by.) Hopefully the author can address these in a future edition. That said, I would consider this a must-have book for every graphic designer and a handsome edition to the library of anyone who has even a casual interest in typography. As the title clearly indicates, Bringhurst sets out to do for Typography what Strunk and White’s Elements of Style did for writing: condense the vast array of typographic rules into one thorough reference manual.
Of course, the role of typography has vastly expanded over the past century, and the typographic rules for billboards are entirely different from those for websites. Wisely, Bringhurst restricts himself primarily to one form: the book. Within that field, the Elements does a wonderful job As the title clearly indicates, Bringhurst sets out to do for Typography what Strunk and White’s Elements of Style did for writing: condense the vast array of typographic rules into one thorough reference manual. Of course, the role of typography has vastly expanded over the past century, and the typographic rules for billboards are entirely different from those for websites. Wisely, Bringhurst restricts himself primarily to one form: the book. Within that field, the Elements does a wonderful job of exploring the minutiae that most normal readers never notice, such as kerning (adjusting the spacing between certain pairs of letters which, if spaced the same as other letters in the font, would read as either too tight or too wide – example: fi) or tracing the histories of various fonts.
What makes the book appealing, even to non-specialists, is how the book reveals a hidden language – subtle moves such as how the book designer chose to emphasize certain aspects of the text by the way in which he/she floated the textblock on the page. Indeed, in Bringhurst’s conception, these decisions should go unnoticed – at one point, he summarizes the job of the typographer as “creative non-interference.” Like any attempt to define out a system, Bringhurst’s may appear to be overly prescriptive to some practitioners.
But for the rest of us, the strong views help create a clarifying lens, a new tool with which we can understand another little corner of the world. The Elements of Typographic Style is pretty much the bible for its field. I read it some time ago (it was first published in 1992) and decided to revisit it recently. Bringhurst writes with clarity, passion and humour. He loves the printed word and celebrates when it is presented with grace and beauty. The printing museums in Antwerp and Lyon have both enthralled me.
Bringhurst's aim for typographers is to 'induce a state of energetic repose which is the ideal condition for reading.' He The Elements of Typographic Style is pretty much the bible for its field. I read it some time ago (it was first published in 1992) and decided to revisit it recently. Bringhurst writes with clarity, passion and humour. He loves the printed word and celebrates when it is presented with grace and beauty. The printing museums in Antwerp and Lyon have both enthralled me. Bringhurst's aim for typographers is to 'induce a state of energetic repose which is the ideal condition for reading.'
He warns of 'typographical slums,' 'hyphens like refugees' and texts like 'shrink-wrapped meat.' It isn't all about the fonts, either: 'Perhaps fifty per cent of the character and integrity of a printed page lies in its letterforms. Much of the other fifty per cent resides in its margins.'
Yay for white space! I'll close with a quote about one of my pet peeves when I'm editing: double spaces after a period. 'In the nineteenth century, which was a dark and inflationary age in typography and type design, many compositors were encouraged to stuff extra space between sentences. Generations of twentieth-century typists were then taught to do the same, by hitting the spacebar twice after every period. Your typing as well as your typesetting will benefit from unlearning this quaint Victorian habit.' To my dear blog readers, may you take note. Part Tufte design book, part Chicago Manual of Style, part encyclopedia of fonts.
Going Down Singing Robert Bringhurst
Wonderful book for anyone interested in design. The book can be read in one of two ways: 1) This book is pretentious! When the author describes a poor choice of margins as abuse of your publication's readers, he is clearly exaggerating the importance of his field. 2) Typography is an old field that, unlike modern UX, which continues to abuse software users with poor application design, has already figured out the rule Part Tufte design book, part Chicago Manual of Style, part encyclopedia of fonts. Wonderful book for anyone interested in design. The book can be read in one of two ways: 1) This book is pretentious! When the author describes a poor choice of margins as abuse of your publication's readers, he is clearly exaggerating the importance of his field.
2) Typography is an old field that, unlike modern UX, which continues to abuse software users with poor application design, has already figured out the rules and can write them down in a neat, orderly way that modern software usability can not yet. The book includes:. Rules for how to lay out a page, how to space text, how to kern letters, and what to look for in a font. Which decisions in the above process are hard-and-fast rules, and which are reasonably left up to artistic discretion. Historical considerations in font design, particularly with. Distinctions between print and online publications and how that affects typographical choices. High concern for glyphs and character sets from a variety of languages.
Robert Bringhurst Quotes
Details regarding modern electronic font file formats and their implications Does that sound interesting? This was the first text I ever read with regards to typography. Although some concepts still muddle my head (I'm mildly asleep during my morning commute), I found it was thoroughly informational, it and has given me a new appreciation to typography (and book design/publishing). A curious thing, however, in my opinion, is that Bringhurst mentioned that having some white, blank pages at the end of the book was a good thing, and yet there wasn't a single one in his! His book looked so visually de This was the first text I ever read with regards to typography. Although some concepts still muddle my head (I'm mildly asleep during my morning commute), I found it was thoroughly informational, it and has given me a new appreciation to typography (and book design/publishing).
A curious thing, however, in my opinion, is that Bringhurst mentioned that having some white, blank pages at the end of the book was a good thing, and yet there wasn't a single one in his! His book looked so visually dense that for some time I was tentative to even begin reading it. (Also, the lack of em-dash use and the use of single quotation marks in lieu of double quotation marks unnerved me throughout the read.).
As as guy who self-publishes books from his basement, I didn't want my books to look like they were published in some guy's basement. So, before baring my arse to the world, I read several books on typography and graphic design. I found Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style not only an informative tome on the history of letterforms, typefaces, kerning, tracking, leading, sizing, and pairing, but also an enthralling manual on the practical art and science of applying such elements. Witho As as guy who self-publishes books from his basement, I didn't want my books to look like they were published in some guy's basement.
So, before baring my arse to the world, I read several books on typography and graphic design. I found Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style not only an informative tome on the history of letterforms, typefaces, kerning, tracking, leading, sizing, and pairing, but also an enthralling manual on the practical art and science of applying such elements. Without a doubt, this book saved my bacon and helped me produce a work that looks and feels as though it was crafted with care by an enlightened professional on the top floor or a major publishing house, instead of by the dank basement-dwelling, cigar-puffing curmudgeon that I am.