A Type Primer

Designed for beginning design and typography students, this text assists students in understanding and demonstrating the basic principles of typography. Focused on intent and content, not affect or style, it makes informed distinctions between what is appropriate and what is merely show. Filled with examples, exercises, and background information–and designed itself to reflect good typographic design–it guides students systematically to the point where they can, not only understand but, demonstrate basic principles of typography, and thereby strengthen their own typographic instincts.

v. Acknowledgments
viii. Introduction

1. Basics
2. Describing letterforms
5. The font
8. Describing typefaces
10. Measuring type
12. Comparing typefaces
14. Display typefaces

15. Development
16. A timeline
48. Text typeface classification

51. Letters, words, sentences
52. Understanding letterforms
56. Maintaining x-height
57. Form/counterform
62. Contrast
64. Reinforcing meaning
70. Making sentences, finding sense
80. Type and color
88. English is not Chinese

89. Text
90. Tracking: kerning and letterspacing
94. Formatting text
96. Texture
99. Typing is not typesetting
100. Leading and line length
106. Kinds of proportion
114. Components of the text page
116. Placing text on a page
122. Front matter, back matter
124. Indicating paragraphs
126. Highlighting text
132. Headlines within text
136. Widows and orphans

137. Columnar organization
138. Columnar layouts
144. Cross-alignment
146. Expressing hierarchy
156. Tabular matter
162. Type as image and information

177. Grid systems
178. Introduction
179. An example
180. Components of the grid
188. A simple grid
194. Grids at large scale
200. Creating a grid for text
212. Creating a grid for text and images

226. Next

227. Selected bibliography
228. Index