I’m in the midst of one of my sojourns into visual design and typography.
A group at work is reading through (and trying to apply) ideas in Robin Williams‘s The Non-Designers Design Book. Half the book is dedicated to layout, the other to type. It’s a quick introduction to visual design concepts and typography for people who have never thought about it before. And a useful refresher for those of us who don’t think about it often enough.
While I was in Las Cruces, I picked up an intro to visual design book by a professor at New Mexico State University, Louis D. Ocepek‘s Graphic Design: Vision, Process, Product. It’s got a great little diagram of the design cycle for commercial work, and short interesting chapters on many aspects of design. Many examples of historic importance are included.
These books triggered me to pull out my copy of a collection of Jan Tschichold essays called The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design. I made it through a third of it last time I picked it up. This time, I’ll finish it.
I love typefaces. I love the design of black and white text. I love the sensuality of the letter forms, the shapes that words make, and the ideas that sentences and paragraphs can convey. I’ll enjoy wallowing in this area for a few weeks.
