Thinking with Type

Home through ice, food on grill, vacuuming buddy Sookie cleaning like the little domestic robot she is and I’ve got a presentation to complete ready for tomorrow (I started writing this on Friday!).

Suki has still been working hard on those pine leaves that my little Christmas tree left as a parting gift.  They are pine leaves right?

To cap off a great week, I thought I’d just share my thoughts on a book designers should pick up if they haven’t already.  It’s an oldish book, but still a brilliant one by New York based Ellen Lupton of Pentagram who I’ve just started following on Twitter.  I’m lucky to have had the chance in the past to meet one of the co-founders/partners of Pentagram and have the chance to discuss the JustGiving brand with them, so I know just how they cherish graphic design like no other agency.

One of the best parts of the book is how it shares creativity with the reader.  Explaining how to break the mold while working within it, as well as pointing out type crime (user experience problems with typography). Which has fascinated me since my time at PartyGaming, when our Creative director strongly pushed for people to avoid using center aligning of content willy nilly (see below for comic sans, poor grammar, typos and awful center aligned example).

Center aligning text is a technique that people apply all too easily, my rule of thumb was if it’s over three words… don’t even think of centering it. Yet, Ellen goes on to say that if used correctly it can “create a formal and classical, bearing rich associations with history and tradition. It invites the designer to break a text for sense and create an organic shape in response to the flow of content.”  Which explains just why French menus use it and apply it so well.  Some of the time… Below you can see an example of great center aligning that falls into the category of having a history and tradition from the use of the crest and the rich colours.

Center alignment in 'Orientierungsplan - Demokratisches Berlin. DDR Hauptstadt. 1964' taken by sludgegulper

She goes on to say how text is important and often in GUI icons get used on their own without text to highlight it’s meaning.  I found this fascinating as the first time I saw this:

It was the most bizzare and random combination of icons I’d ever seen before.  My mind was immersed with numerous colours and different icons and initially it made me think of skull and cross bones on the machine itself.  Yet, if you look away from that green and white monstrosity, and towards the ‘One laptop per child’ site and logo, it’s a totally different story.

Which made me wonder if this was what she was referring to by saying icons alone cannot always work…  The GUI on 1PPC clearly didn’t do Pentagram any justice, yet Ellen’s book and ethos for design really does.

So why should you buy this book, if not because I’ve said so?  Type crime.  Yup, I randomly blurted it out.  The sole reason for you to go out and buy this, is that it explains proof reading and typography no nos without a pointy stick and a waggle of an index finger.

Time and time again, authors write so many things and don’t practice what they preach, yet this book does everything that makes me proud of being a designer.  Ellen.  We salute you.  Okay enough geek talk for me for one night.

If you were to suggest a book to read based on design, typography, layout, inspiration or creativity… what would it be?  My next book of reading is currently Chris Anderson’s – Free, which my wonderful mother purchased for me after reading a Christmas tweet.  Isn’t life awesome?  That was rhetorical in case you were about to answer in the comments box.  What the hell, just reply that life is awesome.

I’m also excited that following up from that is an awesome read my wonderful girlfriend got me when I moved into my flat last year (it’s a huge book okay), by Alan Fletcher – The art of looking sideways.

Fin.