A fun book to read to learn about how types we're created (author and history).
Really like it.
I guess only people in the graphic design world will like this book.

A nice book for bathroom reading, but hardly a desk reference or textbook caliber tome. Look for "Design form and Communication" by Rob Carter for a more thorough source on all things type related. Pick this one up for 10 min refresher reading while you're..killing time.

I like this book a great deal. The next time I have a chance to use this in a class (to teach) I will. There are lots of good examples, the language is clear, and it's not too ethereal or esoteric. I think it's a great introduction to typography and laid out very well.

I love type, but I lack an educated background on its use. I was so looking forward to learning about such details as when to prefer a sans-serif versus a serif in certain situations, how people react to various different families of faces, prescriptions for when to apply different types of layouts, and so forth.

When I got was a partially complete history lesson on how different types of faces and families evolved, an introduction to grid layouts with very little prescriptive advice, and weirdly, a brief editorial primer teaching how to mark up the printed page with pen.

To its credit, the book is full of examples of layouts. As I read, I expected any minute I'd penetrate the entry level "Here we see an example of a layout" to the real meat, but it never ever happened.

To the author's credit, the book was meticulously assembled and was clearly the product of a great deal of effort. And, this is not the first design-related book I've discovered that lacked meaningful depth.

But to any practicing designer looking for some guidance for taking their use of type to the next level, or understanding beyond his own innate instincts when to apply certain techniques, this is not the book for you. In fact, I'm not sure who this book is for.

It's informative, it's inspirational, it's philosophically engaging, it's warm and welcoming. But it might not turn you into a master typographer.

A beautiful read, this book presents history and theory into well-thought, easy to swallow bite-sized chunks. Along with exercises, this kinda gives it away as a student's textbook, which might be less than what you're after, if you're a working designer wanting to advance your typographic skills. It might still worth getting the book. Did you knew Gutenberg used alternate glyphs and ligatures? I know now. Smart guy, this Gutenberg.

Simple and elegant this book has engaged me even further in my exploration of good use of typography. Anne's fresh and encompassing approach makes it easy to get involved in using type well. The book has several exercises and a wealth of information that helps appreciate type, and use typography. The advice is not software specific making it useful for many years to come, and encompasses the printed page and web/screen use of type. A great grounding book in Type and Typography.

This is the book you should read if you are in any way interested in typography - and that includes all those interested in the web.

The topics are basic and historical, exactly what is needed for a firm foundation; it's refreshingly easy to read for a technical book.

The book has good information, but oh man, so much of the type is so tiny, I need a magnifier to read it. What's that about?

This book is very informative and easy to read. There are a lot of examples that display the concepts described in this book which help reinforce them. If you're interested in learning more about typography/design or are taking a class in these areas, I definitely recommend 'Thinking With Type.'

Low on substance, weak on style, sophomoric in execution. I completely agree with Chengiz ("Glossy, colorful, devoid of substance").

Here are some better books on typography:
The Elements of Typographic Sytle (Robert Bringhurst)
A Type Primer (John Kane)
Anatomy of a Typeface (Alexander Lawson)

I'm not a designer or a graphic artist, but I find typography interesting. This book was detailed, but accessible enough for an absolute begginer.

This book should be required reading for anyone who uses type! If you thought like I did that graphic design was all about having 'artistic sense', well you'll get a jolt as you read this book that reveals well-articulated design principles. Not only does this book describe how type works, but also shows you how to apply them using numerous beautiful, uncompromising examples.

If you are new to graphic design or are looking to understand just what makes those graphic designs you see around you so stunning compared to what you can come up with, you need this book.

Make sure to also get the Rockport 'workbooks' about layout, color, etc. to round off your education.

Whether or not you've ever kerned, tracked, adjusted leading or anything else even remotely related to looking at a typeface for longer than it took to simply read what it said, this book will surely enlighten you on some level.

Nice examples and good historical references in addition to clear and concise definitions.

If you're a student of communication design, this is a must.

Ellen Lupton's "Thinking with Type" is a strange book that exists because of itself. It uses different fonts and colors and layout to tell you about different fonts and colors and layout. Even the example text is about itself, and not Lorem Ipsum or some such (for example, "This is Helvetica 9 point" written in Helvetica 9 point).

This is about as meta as you can get, a work of reflexive modern art if you will. Think Godel, Lupton, Bach? But it advertises itself as A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers and Editors, which it surely, emphatically, is not. I learned more from the first few pages of Parker's Looking Good in Print -- a fine book every one of whose commandments Lupton manages to violate -- than from this opus of navel-gazing.

A few concrete things wrong with it: well, the obvious one is that since every design element in this book exists to show itself, the book as a whole is extremely difficult to read. This is exacerbated by bad Index and Table of Contents... the only reason they exist is because they should (sum ergo sum). The fancy rendering of chapters (of which there are three, yes three; moreover they have monosyllabic titles) and sections add to this weird where-am-I-in-the-text effect.

At a graphic design contest level, this might be interesting, but at a "critical guide" level, it is criminal -- worse than type crime. This book suffers from the unpardonable crime of overdesign at any macroscopic level you'd care to think about. Moreover, it simply lacks substance. If a tenth of the time spent typesetting this book had been allocated to actual content, it could have turned out all right. As such, it is full of gloss and color, signifying nothing.

Ellen Lupton's "Thinking with Type" is a strange book that exists because of itself. It uses different fonts and colors and layout to tell you about different fonts and colors and layout. Even the example text is about itself, and not Lorem Ipsum or some such (for example, "This is Helvetica 9 point" written in Helvetica 9 point).

This is about as meta as you can get, a work of reflexive modern art if you will. Think Godel, Lupton, Bach? But it advertises itself as A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers and Editors, which it surely, emphatically, is not. I learned more from the first few pages of Parker's Looking Good in Print -- a fine book every one of whose commandments Lupton manages to violate -- than from this opus of navel-gazing.

A few concrete things wrong with it: well, the obvious one is that since every design element in this book exists to show itself, the book as a whole is extremely difficult to read. This is exacerbated by bad Index and Table of Contents... the only reason they exist is because they should (sum ergo sum). You could find books with worse and missing 'Index'es out there but monosyllabic Chapter titles and no sections for an academic work? Never -- that's worse than type crime.

Speaking about crime, this book suffers from the biggest one (overdesign) at any macroscopic level you'd care to think about. Moreover, it simply lacks substance. If a tenth of the time spent typesetting this book had been allocated to actual content, it could have turned out all right. As such, it is full of gloss and color, signifying nothing.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anybody. just a fiw bits of information from every area, but nothing specific or useful.

If you're loooking for a good foundational knowledge of type, this is one of the best books for the money you'll find.

not quite helpful with thinking with type as the title suggests. more of a brief historical overview of type and such. does not really help you think critically about type. there are a few other books i would definitely if you're wanting for something deeper about type after reading this book. overall, for the price, it's a decent book to own. i do wish the book talked more about the grid system though.

This book does not accomplish what it sets out to be, according to the subtitle, "A critical guide for designers, writers, editors & students". It has some interesting examples of unusual designs and has some value for designers of, for example, brochures or advertisements. But the book has limited value for the remaining targeted audience, as far too much of the book is devoted to oddities and strange designs that a writer, editor or student should NEVER even think of using.

The majority of the examples of text settings in the book are unreadable for more than a few lines. No writer who actually wants his or her work to be read should ever want to have the text set in one of these designs.

There are some useful guides on matters such as leading and tracking, but these are lost in the overall jumble. The book merits two stars only because of designers might find it useful. All others should avoid the book.

This book is more a brief history of typography than a practical guide for the designer. The author is the scholarly type and in that mode she provides a wonderful analysis of typography's evolution as medium. On the down side, I found the overall tone of the book to be on the pretentious, high-minded side. Practical application of the principles described is not the emphasis.

I haven't even finished the book, I still have one more section, but I really liked this book. It is definitely a great typography book. I have learned a lot about typography. I didnt know much before this book.

To quote Ellen Lupton: "There is no playbook that assigns fixed meaning or function every typeface; each designer must confront the library of possibilities in light of a project's unique circumstance." Unfortunately, this seem to be true, and this book is no such playbook. The author provides a brief history of the trade, and a nice overview of some of the basics of type, but I was left wanting for more. The book is nicely illustrated, and still remains among one of the better ones on the subject, but there is room for improvement.

This is just another great type book - beautifully designed and a great guide for anyone with an interest in the subject matter

this book is super informative and an easy read...what more could you
want. It also looks great and has wonderfull images and examples.
It gives some history of typefaces which is nice but not an overwhelming amount. I am halfway through the book and absolutely love it so far!

This book is excellent.

I am a design student, and bought "Thinking with Type" prior to the first of two classes about type, in the hope that I would get excited about what seemed to me to be a very dull subject. I made a great decision. "Thinking with Type" got me into type. This is a very well written book. I read and enjoyed it from cover to cover in one day, and refer to it regularly.

If you want to get a handle on type, buy this book, it's a great read, and you'll learn lots about type.

Great book. If you are graphic designer, you can never have too much knowledge in regards to font use. And this book delivers, giving great advice, and history of fonts.

From now on it will be my personal Typography tutorial !
GREAT for students!!!
Thank you

From now on it will be my personal Typography tutorial !
GREAT for students!!!
Thank you

This book should be a part of every serious designers library.
Well written, with great examples there is something to be learned by everyone.

This book should be a part of every serious designers library.
Well written, with great examples there is something to be learned by everyone.

this is a great little book with some good insights and interesting view points written in an easy to understand manner. i would call this more of a brief history of design/printed type than really a stand-alone piece, its more of a gloss-over to give you a good starting point to look into other more in-depth books.

i definitely recommend it, but dont expect it to answer much on its own.

I don't know where I was for along time, but I am glad I got this book asap. I am learning so much reading it and the images in the book make it so entertaining too. Never a dull moment in this one!

Not only did it arrive in great condition, but it arrived very quickly. This book is an essencial for all graphic design students. The author covers all the history, vocab, and other essencials. :)

This is a great book for anyone studying graphic design and typography. It takes you from the history of print to today's newest fonts. It makes everything clear, and it has lots of visuals to clarify its points. This book is definitely staying in my collection. I would recommend it to anyone interested in design.

This book and some of the other books from the Design Briefs series, have become an integral part of my working resource library. Ellen Lupton's book has been one that I have used over and over again. I often reference it when I am faced with a blank page that I am having a hard time laying out.

The section on typography, the largest section of the book, was a very interesting read. I enjoyed learning about the history of printing and typography. Beginning designers will appreciate the categorizing of typefaces. This leads into the discussion of electronic typesetting and the limitations and challenges that has created for designers.

Lupton's book shed a lot of light on different strategies for organizing type, graphics, and pictures on my own layouts. Unlike many other books on graphic design, Lupton's book was down-to-earth and was easy for a non-designer (like myself) to understand. It used some meaningful practical examples, instead of relying on art school projects that have limited real-life applications.

The section on grids was one of the most easy to understand that I have ever come across. It also gave many examples of grids that can be incorporated for page layout. Lupton also gave a decent low-level overview on the golden section, but she did not give enough of examples of how the golden section can be used as a more flexible grid.

One of my favourite parts of her book is the section on proofreading where she has one of the best proofreader's marking charts that I have ever seen. I have used this resource on complex projects like annual reports with agency graphic designers. No more second-guessing edits, Lupton's list captures it all. In fact, a lot of the designers and account reps who have used it with me consider it to be a time (and money) saver.

This book is probably too basic for seasoned designers, but if you just bought a copy of InDesign, or you're working in a corporate communications department and expected to create some basic layouts, you will take away a lot of good ideas and principles from this book. It covers off on many of the principles of good design without leaving you feeling overwhelmed.

Please if anyone ever needs a type book, this one is perfect. It is a helpful wonderful book.

Worth reading if you need to learn more about type, layout grids, and popular fonts of the past decade.

This book is possibly the best design education text I've seen. Everything is kept simple, and clear. Ellen Lupton's categorizing of typeface styles, for example, is logical and all inclusive, yet still a simple breakdown of the vast variety of typefaces. She is easier to understand than Robert Bringhurst in "The Elements of Typographic Style," something crucial to any budding designer. This book will serve you well.

I was inspired by some of the samples of type usage in the book from the first few pages. Ellen Lupton, the author of "Design Culture Now", came up with a book to fill a void where it was much needed. It is hard not to encounter useful elements in it to both, help you enhance existing designs or tackle new territory.

The only downside of the book, and the reason I give it 4.5 and not 5 stars, is that the layout doesn't make it particularly easy to read and follow. Therefore it ends up being a book that you resort to for visual not textual queues of where you are, and for ideas rather than specific content. At least it was that way for me. Still, the number of visual ideas it carries makes it worth your while.

I bought this book because other customers loved it and because it was not expensive. It was so much better than I expected. I was expecting to pick it up and just visually browse then leave it for later but read all the content the first day I had it -even reread parts incase I missed anything. I plan to use this with 17-18year olds within a design programme - as it is consise yet interesting. So: book is great value for money, practical advise offered is clearly presented and taught to the reader through its design! Visual content and extra information is compelling/quirky/humourous/relevant, overview of typographic evolution intereting and fonts useful. Loved the material used for the tables!....check it out.

Thinking With Type is a must have for graphic designers and typography lovers. Even if you think you know everything there is to know about type, you'll learn something- or at the very least be entertained by the witty prose and examples.

This book is well presented, reads well and is an elegant and useful tool for anyone who has anything to do with type. As a professional designer, I enjoyed reviewing what I knew and found a number of things that were helpful in my everyday work. I count this among my favorite references.

The book was brand new, and arrived in a very timely manner thanks!

This book is useful and straight forward. It is an excellent book for students.

Although used as one at my college, this doesn't read like a textbook - the text (as blocks, not as examples) isn't any more than needed (nor dry), and the examples are fun to peruse. And, of course, the price is hard to beat.

This book is a must for designers or anyone else who works with type. It shows you how to use type creatively to convey messages, clean up your layouts, and make for a more attractive piece. I wish I'd read this book a year ago. I can't stand to look at some of my older designs now that I know exactly what I did wrong.

I got this book because it's a requirement for my Typography class. I enjoy reading it greatly and I've learned many things from it. I think it's an excellent read if you're just interested in typography even if you're not interested in type setting (the book is filled with interesting facts).

The only reason I gave it four stars is because the book is meant to be a typography class book and I feel it's a bit too vague for that. I think you'll learn MANY things from this book, but you'll still need to get nother one to fill in the gaps. But as an introductory book I think it's awesome (I also got Stop Stealing Sheep and Learn how Type Works, which is also an introductory book, they are pretty much at the same level of depth).

I used this book as a guide for my Type II class (heirarchy), and it was so helpful, I will never get rid of it. I have three other typography books and none of them show most all aspects of typeography in such a simple and to-the-point way. Even if you don't have a reason to get this book, you will learn a ton, guarenteed.

As the author of Looking Good in Print: A Guide to Basic Design for Desktop Publishing, I approach design and type books with high expectations.

I judge books on not only the amount of information they communicate, but also the accessibility of the information, the clarity of the visuals, the design of the pages, and--last, but not least--the price.

Ellen Luppon's Thinking With Type scores well on all standards. It's also one of the few books that has important things to say about online type.

At its remably low price, you can't buy a more useful book for learning from the past and setting computer-based type on the basis of what others have done previously.

This is a well-structured and well-written text with refreshing examples from a wide range of designers. These examples reinforce the concept that successful design and typography come from critical thinking and that there is no one style or approach that is "correct."

I plan to require this book in the undergraduate typography class I teach, but because it is accessible even to a novice, I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in type. One of the strengths of the book is its succinctness, but that may be one flaw as well. When a book is so well done, you want more... (Fortunately there is a website which does have supporting materials for those who want more.)

It is a terrific value and well-produced.