Type Matters!

University graphics lecturer Jim Williams' A4 Type Matters! booklet, originally created to hand to his students, has been expanded and is set to be published in April as a notebook-style 160 page, faux leather covered book.

The book sets out the basics of typography and is sure to be added to graphic design course reading lists. The first chapter deals with the history of type design, the origins of typographic terminology, type measurement, Roman type and a very helpful spread entitled The Anatomy of Letterforms which will allow readers to correctly identify a stem, crossbar, descender, terminal, tittle or bowl at a glance.

Chapter two deals with setting headlines and display type, while the third chapter (by far the longest chapter) looks at setting text - from selecting a typeface through leading, kerning, letter spacing, alignment, indicating paragraphs, hanging punctuation, hyphenation, widows and orphans, apostrophes and quotation marks, ligatures and more. In short, Type Matters! is an indispensible guide to the basics of typography that no budding graphic designer should be without.

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