Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0984370781 ISBN 13: 9780984370788

Casa editrice: 101 Editions, 2011

**Note: This is the first edition, now out of print. A second edition is available through the publisher.** Explorations in Typography: Mastering the Art of Fine Typesetting (A Visual Textbook for Intermediate to Advanced Typography) is a vast collection of beautiful typesetting examples. Page after page, a brief article by Erik Spiekermann has been set in hundreds of ways in hundreds of typefaces, creating an extended visual taxonomy of typesetting that allows you to learn by looking.

Beautifully printed and bound, with complete type specifications on every page and examples set in hundreds of faces (many from the FontFont library), the book is a valuable and extensive resource of typesetting ideas. Explorations in Typography along with its companion website and iPad/iPhone app is sure to be instructive and inspirational to students and professionals alike.

About the Author:

Carolina de Bartolo has taught typography and design history for more than a decade. She developed the Explorations exercises in this book as a way to help her students practice typesetting both in sport and in earnest and eventually discover their passion for the art and craft of fine typesetting.

Review:

As someone who works with typography and design every day, I have a few books I turn to when I need to clear my mind of clutter. One of my favorites is Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style, which includes this rumination on the sanctity of the title page: Think of the blank page as alpine meadow, or as the purity of undifferentiated being. The typographer enters this space and must change it. The reader will enter it later, to see what the typographer has done. Lines like this refresh my understanding of the task at hand and clarify my sense of purpose.

Carolina de Bartolo's new book Explorations in Typography has a similar effect, albeit via entirely different means.

Explorations in Typography is arranged as a series of twenty-four chapters the explorations. Using a short excerpt from Erik Spiekermann's classic text, Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works, as a mantra, the book guides the reader through a kind of typographical meditation.

In 24 explorations spanning 188 pages, the Spiekermann text is repeatedly typeset, using a variety of techniques to indicate paragraphs and hierarchy. Each exploration shows several examples of a different method of indicating paragraphs in text (and a few later chapters explore different alignments and hierarchies). A new pair of typefaces is used for each example. A colophon and additional side notes about the typesetting and the history of the typefaces are included with each setting.

The explorations are thorough, covering typesetting techniques from the most basic (using indents, for example) to the unusual (using varying directions of text to indicate paragraphs). Typeface choices also range from classic to cheerfully odd. Throughout, the typesetting and page design remain austere and exemplary. As the author explains, the book is meant to further typographical education through an extended visual taxonomy , and the broad palette of techniques and typefaces is true to that spirit.

The book's companion website is as well designed as the book, in form as well as function. The site provides information and examples from the book, and includes a terrific and easy to use interactive page that allows the casual user to try out some typographical explorations of her own.

Explorations in Typography is a well-conceived, well-designed book that fulfills its goal. It is a unique and valuable catalyst of typographical contemplation. In addition, it s a solid teaching tool, and a worthy addition to the libraries of design studios, type enthusiasts, and design instructors.

--Patrick Barber, reviewed on typographica.org