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New Unger book: Theory of Type Design

Dave CrosslandDave Crossland Posts: 1,040
edited March 2018 in Technique and Theory
I am very excited!

Pre-order here, https://www.nai010.com/en/publicaties/theory-of-type-design/186086


If you don't know him, he is one of the top type designers of the last decades, and that page links to some nice recent interviews:

https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/the-inner-consistency-of-gerard-unger-7a42add9e900



And if course his homepage,

http://www.gerardunger.com/


His book "While you're reading" is also fantastic :) http://www.eyemagazine.com/review/article/now-you-see-it-now-you-dont
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Comments

  • Chris LozosChris Lozos Posts: 1,124
    ordered!
  • AbrahamLeeAbrahamLee Posts: 227
    @Chris Lozos, have you received your copy yet? I haven’t received mine nor any word that it shipped.
  • Moritz KleinsorgeMoritz Kleinsorge Posts: 6
    The release date is in September ;)
  • AbrahamLeeAbrahamLee Posts: 227
    Oh, I see. I knew it was in pre-production stages, but I didn’t realize it was that far out. Good to know! I’m excited to get my copy.
  • Chris LozosChris Lozos Posts: 1,124
    @AbrahamLee It has not shipped yet as Moritz noted.

  • AbrahamLeeAbrahamLee Posts: 227
    Got mine in the mail today! Super excited to read it. Very nicely bound hard cover.
  • James PuckettJames Puckett Posts: 1,614
    Mine showed up yesterday. I’ll start reading it as soon as I finish this 950 page gangster epic I’ve been chipping away at.
  • Thomas PhinneyThomas Phinney Posts: 1,344
    My copies showed up in the mail this past week... just a couple of days after I bought a signed copy at ATypI.
  • Chris LozosChris Lozos Posts: 1,124
    mine also came yesterday.

  • Chris LozosChris Lozos Posts: 1,124
    I just finished reading it this afternoon.  Perhaps I will start a new thread with my reactions and everyone else's
  • Thomas PhinneyThomas Phinney Posts: 1,344
    Please do!

    I read the first several chapters, but then I had to go to LA and have been busy. Should have brought it with me for airplane reading!

    The bad thing about in-flight wifi is that I do less reading on airplanes now.  :(
  • Hrant H. PapazianHrant H. Papazian Posts: 1,284
    Perhaps I will start a new thread with my reactions and everyone else's
    Please do! Considering how disappointing "While You're Reading" was, I've been waiting for reviews before I buy it. But I'm hopeful.
  • George ThomasGeorge Thomas Posts: 469
    Anyone wanting to save money, if they are willing to wait, can save about US$10 by placing a pre-order at Amazon for November 20 shipping. Current pre-order price is US$31.36 plus tax and shipping when using Amazon Prime.
  • Hrant H. PapazianHrant H. Papazian Posts: 1,284
    FWIW:

  • Thomas PhinneyThomas Phinney Posts: 1,344
    @Hrant H. Papazian That is a different book.
  • Hrant H. PapazianHrant H. Papazian Posts: 1,284
    edited September 2018
    Oh man, wires crossed! Sorry.

    Hey why doesn't TypeDrawers let me hit Disagree on myself?!
  • Jasper de WaardJasper de Waard Posts: 381
    The general point of avoiding amazon may still apply, though.
  • George ThomasGeorge Thomas Posts: 469
    @Jasper de Waard -- What's the story on avoiding Amazon? I obviously haven't heard it.
  • Hrant H. PapazianHrant H. Papazian Posts: 1,284
    Chris Lozos said:
    I just finished reading it this afternoon.  Perhaps I will start a new thread with my reactions and everyone else's
    Yes?  :-)
  • Chris LozosChris Lozos Posts: 1,124
    Busy right now, Hrant.  Will get to it later.
  • James PuckettJames Puckett Posts: 1,614
    edited October 2018
    I finished reading it this evening. Theory of Type Design is a great introduction to thinking about typefaces and designing them. Incoming students at the various graduate and certificate programs in type design should be required to read this book before the programs start. It’s on the list of books I wish had been around when I was writing my undergraduate thesis about type design. Unger is short and to the point providing a nice example of how academic writing doesn’t have to be so, well, academic. My next journey with this book will be buying items of the bibliography that I don’t already own.
  • Hrant H. PapazianHrant H. Papazian Posts: 1,284
    edited October 2018
    @James Puckett How useful would you say it is beyond an introduction?
  • James PuckettJames Puckett Posts: 1,614
    It’s not more than an introduction to anything. Each chapter is a little essay of two or three pages, so there’s not much space to dive in with depth that experienced designers might appreciate. But there is depth in the work overall if you want to understand how a seasoned type designer thinks.
  • Dave CrosslandDave Crossland Posts: 1,040
    Thanks James!
  • John HudsonJohn Hudson Posts: 1,585
    James, do you think there actually is a theory in the Theory?
  • James PuckettJames Puckett Posts: 1,614
    edited October 2018
    I think there is a theory to it in the same sense that the books of Doyald Young are a theory of lettering and wordmark design and critique and The Stroke is a theory of letterform classification. Unger explains ways of thinking, not what to think. It's very Dutch and catholic. There's a wonderful theory for the utility of typefaces, that they form a solar system like cluster, with the most crystal gobletty types at the center and everything else radiating outward in orbits of novelty.
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