"A Note on the Type"

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When did this begin? What purpose does it serve? Who actually reads them (well, I know everyone reads them out of a sort of curiosity, but who is it intended for)?

― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 11 June 2004 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Funny you should ask.

There is a tiny coterie of typeface aficianados. By curious happenstance, the designers of books represent a huge percentage of these odd ducks. Naturally, most book designers think every reader shares his or her passion for type designs. Consequently, A Note on the Type appears whenever the editor in chief has a long three-martini lunch on the day the final book galley is approved for printing.

― Aimless (Aimless), Friday, 11 June 2004 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sorry, there are people who don't want to find out what that excellent typeface was?

(Answer: It's Carlson.)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 11 June 2004 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I blame the Roycrofters. They were freaks for type.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 11 June 2004 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I'm going to call my next album "A Note on the Type."

― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 11 June 2004 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm a huge typophile. I can't believe there are people that don't care about the type. It always makes my day to see "A Note About the Type".

― August (August), Friday, 11 June 2004 18:31 (twenty-one years ago)

My difficulty with this is simple. I can sense differences between typefaces and I can enjoy a particularly clear, clean typeface, but I will never be able to tell one from another - not without a long, attentive apprencticeship - and even if I could, I will never be given any choice in how a book I read will be typeset, so it would never be any more than learning to say, "Aha! Carlson! I thought so!" and then sitting back with an immensely pleased expression for no reason, except for having been ever-so-right once again.

― Aimless (Aimless), Friday, 11 June 2004 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)

You might be able to use it to pick up women. "Pardon me, miss, but if I'm not mistaken, that book you're reading is set in Carlson. A very elegant typeface, if I may say so. Would you care to join me for an afternoon of catching butterflies and picnicking on nectarines?"

― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 11 June 2004 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.documentsanddesigns.com/images/Type/calligraphy%20page/Calligraphy%20Services%20Font%20Page/Alphabet/Carlson.gif

Rrrrrrowr!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 11 June 2004 23:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm happy to announce that Carlson and I are getting engaged.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 11 June 2004 23:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i love these, they have a rhythm of accidental poetry and the explicitness of a religous text. but then im a type geek

ive wanted, forever, to compile an anthology.

― anthony, Saturday, 12 June 2004 03:42 (twenty-one years ago)

An anthology of Notes On The Types?

― Chris Casuistry-Carlson (Chris Piuma), Saturday, 12 June 2004 03:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I've read a poem that was like that.

― Chris Casuistry-Carlson (Chris Piuma), Saturday, 12 June 2004 03:46 (twenty-one years ago)

never cared about typefaces until I wrote a book. now I'm somewhat obsessed w/book design, an arcane and fascinating craft. Any b-d'ers out there?

― lovebug starski, Saturday, 12 June 2004 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Mmmmm. Fournier.

― August (August), Saturday, 12 June 2004 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Any b-d'ers out there?

Bondage & Discipline? A stickler for type, are we?

― Sredni Vashtar, Saturday, 12 June 2004 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I can sense differences between typefaces and I can enjoy a particularly clear, clean typeface, but I will never be able to tell one from another - not without a long, attentive apprencticeship

I'm the same way. I only recognize cooper black, and that's only because of Cooper Black: Behind the Typeface

― SJ Lefty, Tuesday, 15 June 2004 00:04 (twenty-one years ago)

It just seems like a lovely reminder of craftmanship - complaining about it seems akin to complaining about the Harley-Davidson symbol on a motorcycle. If you want to know the details, they're there. If not, get on the book and ride.

― aimurchie, Tuesday, 15 June 2004 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Cooper Black: BtT defined a generation, for me.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 08:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I love the fact that the typefaces as shown on your MS Word screen never look very much like what comes out of the printer at all, so it's this game of "surprise"! when you try a new face and you run over to see what comes out... I think typefaces make a huge difference in a reader's mood. Sometimes when working on something I've written that I think is putrid or too problematic to deal with I try changing the typeface and bam, suddenly I can see the ways it can be worked with in a far cheerier light...

...and yes, I did start noticing those notes on typeface when I was a little kid. It started me thinking about how books might actually get made... you know how when you're real small you just feel like books dropped down from the heavens or something? This was one of the first chinks in the terrible armor.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

For anyone seriously interested in type, a couple of must-haves are:

The Elements of Typographic Style, by Robert Bringhurst (also a fairly decent poet)

and

Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works, by Erik Spiekermann and E.M. Ginger

― August (August), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

HOW A GREAT DAILY ORGAN IS TURNED OUT

― the finefox, Tuesday, 15 June 2004 23:38 (twenty-one years ago)

IN THE HEART OF THE HIBERNIAN METROPOLIS

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 04:51 (twenty-one years ago)

(Or something like that, that's from memory.)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 04:51 (twenty-one years ago)

WE SEE THE CANVASSER AT WORK

― the finefox, Wednesday, 16 June 2004 06:56 (twenty-one years ago)

CLEVER, VERY

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 08:07 (twenty-one years ago)

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