Stop stealing sheep & find out how type works
by Erik Spiekermann, E.M Ginger · first published 1993
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
An accessible introduction to practical typography that changes how you see type. Well suited to non-designers and anyone starting out in typographic fundamentals.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A guide to typography. It draws in the reader with its design and layout, making use of more than 200 illustrations and photographs. It explains in everyday layman's terms what type is and how you can use it to enhance legibility, meaning, and aesthetic enjoyment. It also includes chapters on Web typography and other forms of online text display.
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Learn about typography. This will start to change how you think. A fantastic and accessible starting point is: "Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works", by Erik Spiekermann http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stop-Stealing-Sheep-Find-Works/dp/02...
on “Ask HN: How can I get better at design?” ↗I recommend 1 book on typography: Stop Stealing Sheep & Find out How Type Works http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Stealing-Sheep-Find-Works/dp/0201... I'd recommend checking out OpenFontLibrary.org & Kernest.com (shameless plug) for you can download the fonts, use them, and understand how they work in all the work you do - not just web browsers.
on “Ask HN: Typography—How?” ↗Typography is a big topic, but a good introduction is "Stop Stealing Sheep and Find out How Type works" by Erik Spiekermann [1] It is an especially good read for non-designers, though I've given several copies to interns. [1] - http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Edition-Graphic-Communication...
on “Sway: A new presentation application from Microsoft” ↗If you're interested in Typography, I'd suggest reading "Stop stealing sheep and find out how type works"[1] by Eric Spiekermann. Great introduction to practical Typography! [1] http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Graphic-Design-Communication-...
on “33 Laws of Typography Pt3” ↗…"Display Typography" is Wolfgang Weingart's My Way to Typography. Three good books on "Typographic Fundamentals" are: Ellen Lupton's Thinking With Type, John Kane's Type Primer and Erik Spiekermann's Stop Stealing Sheep (and find out how type works). One excellent "Typographic Reference" is Robert Bringhurst's Elements of Typographic Style. One good book about "Design Process" is Nancy Skolos & Tom Wedell's Graphic Design Process. No design book…
on “Ask HN: Independently learning design?” ↗Not a talk, but I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from the book Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works from Adobe Press
on “Ask HN: What are the best typography talks?” ↗hackdesign.org is pretty good provided you actually take their advice and look into the materials provided. For example: there are 5 typography related 'modules' in the top level list. In module 1. 'Dive into Typography', there are 6 different resources within. From the one of those 6 resources, here are a list of materials mentioned: * book - Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals [0] *
on “Ask HN: How to learn design as a hacker?” ↗