As Japan’s Information Architects famously say, “Web design is 95% typography.”
A firm grasp of typographic style is essential for any type of design. Even with experience in print design, it can be difficult to reproduce the same look on the web, especially across all browsers. Here are some great resources for learning principles of typography and how to apply them accurately to your designs on the web.
Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style is a seminal text that has set the professional standards for print typography for decades. Richard Rutter adapts the concepts of the book to web typography and shows you how to apply these rules to your stylesheet.
Another classic typographic treatise is by Massimo Vignelli. His free PDF, The Vignelli Canon was the first work I ever read about typography. It isn’t focused on web design, but like The Elements of Typographic Style, the solid principles can be applied across all disciplines.
Antonio Carusone of AisleOne supplies a great resource for learning about grid systems in graphic design and provides tools for applying them to the web.
A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web is a book by Mark Boulton. But you can read his blog posts and get a lot of the content for free. The book is beautiful though.
Typography Served is a collection of the best type from the Behance Network. The Served e-mail newsletter is probably my most looked-forward-to e-mail of the week. Always inspired work. Never a dull post.
Typesites takes a more analyzed approach to showcase type sites. “Whereas galleries simply post generic designs by the bucketload, [Typesites] strive to showcase only design that can inspire and teach—and then explain it.”
I Love Typography is the best typography news blog out there. If you want to know about new developments in print or web type design, this is the place. Their Week In Type posts provide a fresh look at what’s going on in the world of typography.
From the same crew that runs I Love Typography, plus some very qualified contributors, We Love Typography is a gallery showcase constantly updating with the freshest type from all over the web. It’s a great one to add to your RSS, with small, thumbnail posts to spark your creative interest.
Smashing Magazine has some of the best showcases online. Check out their articles on web typography readability and an even longer list of typography blogs here.
Font For Fun:
I dare you to play this font recognition game just once.
Try it for iPhone too for only 99¢. (I used this next site to find the ¢ symbol.)
Ever need to quickly insert a cent symbol? Or an Apple logo? Use Copy Paste Character.
I’ve included my favorites and ones I’ve had in my RSS for years. Enjoy and learn.
