Thinking with Type
by Ellen Lupton · first published 2004
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Approachable, highly visual primer giving a broad foundation in typography through contemporary examples. Suits developers and non-designers, and works as a gentler starting point before Bringhurst.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A new addition to our best selling series, Design Briefs, Thinking with Type is a straightforward primer that presents practical information about typographic design that can be immediately applied within the context of design history and theory. It is divided into three sections - letter, text, grid - each accompanied by an essay explaining key concepts, and then a set of practical demonstrations illustrating that material. The lessons of Thinking with Type are applicable to typographic design wherever it is practiced: printed materials of all kinds, Web sites, television screens. A companion
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This is a great list. From a pure graphic design standpoint, I would recommend The Elements of Typography Style to any developer, as well as Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton. A solid understanding of typography is maybe the most important, and definitely the most immediately useful, facet of design. Interesting point about Muller-Brockmann as well. It's essentially…
on “Design Books Every Hacker Should Read” ↗Good stuff, thanks for the links. Especially Felton's course page has several good references that were new to me. Ellen Lupton's Thinking with Type [1] seems a fun read. Great designs also on the competition page [2]. [1] http://thinkingwithtype.com/ [2] http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=1374
on “Information Dashboard Design, 2nd Edition” ↗…Hofmann's Graphic Design Manual, Emil Ruder's Typographie: a manual of design, Josef Mueller-Brockman's Grid Systems in Graphic Design, Robert Bringhurst's Elements of Typographic Style. Ellen Lupton's Thinking with Type and John Kane's Type Primer are good intro resources. Also, these are interesting books: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joekral/sets/72157594264845751/... With the Hofmann and Ruder and Lupton books, try…
on “Ask HN: Learning Web Design” ↗Ellen Lupton's 'Thinking with Type' is also an excellent resource for those who wish to have a basic understanding of typography and its principles. http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/
on “Five Principles for Choosing and Using Typefaces” ↗Go read Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Type-2nd-revised-expanded/dp/... Then go and get a Typekit account http://typekit.com/ and start experimenting. Good design (any kind of design, not just…
on “Ask HN: Typography—How?” ↗I'd also highly recommend Thinking With Type. It's a very quick read (as most of the book is visual) and gives you a great foundation for understanding and designing with typography. http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Type-2nd-revised-expanded/dp/...
on “How to Make Text Look Interesting: Minimalist Web Design” ↗…resources: The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams -- An excellent book that lays out clearly and concisely principles that will make your designs work. Perfect for the analytically-minded. Thinking With Type by Ellen Lupton -- The web is still largely a written medium. Getting the typography right is a huge win. And this book is great. Implementation resources: * Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML by Freeman…
on “Ask HN: (Backend) coders, did you learn web design? If yes, how?” ↗…really know what you're doing. The Elements of Typographical Style is a beautiful book and an elegant, literary introduction and guide: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0881792063/ref=as_li_qf_sp_... Thinking with Type is full of contemporary examples to give you new ideas: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1568989695/ref=as_li_qf_sp_... Ruder's Typographie is the book that established modern typography and is the de…
on “Ask HN: What do you wish you knew about UI/UX design?” ↗The best book I know on the topic is Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style. Highly, highly recommended. Other great books: Ellen Lupton's Thinking With Type and James Felici's The Complete Manual of Typography. Both are really solid. Books that would be worth checking out at a library: Richard Hendel's On Book Design and Ruari McLean's Typographers on Type.…
on “Typeplate - A Typography Template” ↗This book, Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton, was one of the first design books I ever read. I have been a designer for about 10 years now. It is a very approachable introduction to typography.
on “A Visual Overview of Typography (2009)” ↗Besides the practicaltypography website, reading Thinking with Type from Ellen Lupton was in my case a short, easy, and educative introduction to typography.
on “Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)” ↗My entrypoint was "Thinking with Type" from Ellen Lupton which gives a very nice and broad introduction to typography. Highly recommend it I also discovered https://practicaltypography.com/ in a HN commment a few years back, it's brilliant…
on “Neue Haas Grotesk (2011)” ↗Not a talk, but Ellen Lupton's book, Thinking with Type, is really good: http://thinkingwithtype.com/
on “Ask HN: What are the best typography talks?” ↗…Typography" is Cyrus Highsmith's Inside Paragraphs. A good book on "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…
on “Ask HN: Independently learning design?” ↗"Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug, and "Thinking With Type" by Ellen Lupton
on “Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?” ↗