Legibility is another area where the designer can be misled by what seems like an obvious dictate in type selection and design. There can be no question about the readability of the message, but legibilty and readability are not quite the same — a dull and uninteresting presentation in a highly legible typeface will not be widely read. There have been many studies of comparative legibility, and each study seems to surface with slightly different conclusions. For the designer, the best solution is to use his material in such a way that it arouses interest and invites reading.

—Allen Hurlburt, Layout: The Design of the Printed Page

 

“Designing text is the process of selecting a typeface, deciding which words or phrases should be emphasized, and determining how the type should be arranged on a page. The final design will be influenced by the copy you work with, the intended audience, your understanding of the principles of typography, and consideration of how we read. This holds true whether your goal is to make the experience of reading as comfortable as possible or to challenge accepted typographic conventions.”

—James Craig, Designing with Type

“One of the things I have observed, looking back historically, is how elegant a seventeenth-century book looks. One of the reasons it looks so elegant is because of the restrictions: there was only one typeface available, there weren’t that many fonts, and virtually all you could do was play with sizes, italics, and so forth.”

—Colin Forbes

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“The objective of Typographic design is to organize all of the elements of communication into a harmonious and unified whole, either by achieving a quiet uniformity of similar elements or by the visually exciting use of contrasting ones. What determines the result is the way in which the diverse elements are organized in relation to each other, the contributions each makes to form, texture, and weight, and the effect of their relation with the space in which they exist.”

-Carl Dair, Design with Type

“Letterforms that honor and elucidate what humans see and say deserve to be honored in their turn. Well-chosen words deserve well-chosen letters; these in their turn deserve to be set with affection, intelligence, knowledge and skill. Typography is a link, and it ought, as a matter of honor, courtesy and pure delight, to be as strong as the others in the chain.”

—Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

“Writing begins with the making of meaningful marks. That is to say, leaving the traces of meaningful gestures. Typography begins with arranging meaningful marks that are already made In that respect, the practice of typography is like playing the piano – an instrument quite different from the human voice. On the piano, the notes are already fixed, although their order, duration and amplitude are not. The notes are fixed but they can be endlessly rearranged, into meaningful music or meaningless noise.”

—Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

Simplicity is good, but so is plurality. Typography’s principal function (not it’s only function) is communication, and the greatest threat to communication is not difference but sameness. Communication ceases when one being is no different from another: when there is nothing strange to wonder at and no new information to exchange. For that reason among others, typography and typographers must honor the variety and complexity  of human language, thought and identity, instead of homogenizing or hiding it.”

—Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

“The most popular typefaces are the easiest to read; their popularity has made them disappear from conscious cognition. It becomes impossible to tell if they are easy to read because they are commonly used, or if they are commonly used because they are easy to read.”

—Zuzana Licko

Continuing our series of typography resources list posts, we have a handy list of the most popular font vendors sorted by Alexa data. Enough said!

Pay each site a visit by clicking the image and see how they differ in terms of browsing, trial interfaces, and pricing. Compare features and user-friendliness and find the best place to make your purchase!

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 “…the first function of a piece of printing is to capture attention, design with type requires that the designer understand how to make visual units group together for easier organization in the observer’s mind. Many typographical compositions unfortunately look as though the single goal had been to camouflage the message—and sometimes the success is phenomenal.”

—Carl Dair, Design with Type

 

“Just as every musical score has its home key, in typography the contrast of size of the typographic elements is almost a prerequisite for all other contrasts. A strong contrast in the size of the elements is basic, and all other contrasts are extra effects introduced into relationship.”

—Carl Dair, Design with Type

 

We like to keep an eye on what typography books people are reading. Every so often we do our own research using a variety of sources to get a pulse on what typography resources have people’s heart beating a little faster.

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“Form without function is formalism. Typography can neither be modern nor beautiful if it just pays homage to form rather than fulfill its purpose – a legible communication.”

-Robert Büchler