Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students

Lupton (graphic design, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore; Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York) offers practical information about type within a context of design history and theory in a text that reflects the diversity of typographic life, past and present. Through three sections on letter, text, and grid, the volume begins with an exploration of the basic letter forms, and builds to the organization of words into coherent bodies and flexible systems. Each section opens with a narrative essay about the cultural and theoretical issues of typographic design across a range of media, followed by example pages demonstrating how and why typography is structured as it is. Illustrated with b&w and color diagrams and photographs. No subject index. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Ellen Lupton is one of America's preeminent design educators. Her books include Skin , Inside Design Now , and Mixing Messages , among others. She is currently director of the design program at Maryland Institute of Art and Design.