Ellen Lupton

Graphic design is an important help to any venture. In the age of electronic communication, it has become only more important to capture the public’s attention. Distractions abound, but well-thought visuals stand the chance of garnering a glance. Of course, only deeper substance will sustain interest in a written work, but interest will never be piqued without visual appeal. Lupton’s work seeks to enlighten those who deal with type in some format about the graphical principles required show more to display those words pleasingly.

Lupton divides her book into three main sections: Letter, Text, and Grid. Letter covers typefaces and fonts; Text covers practices about forming words into sentences; and Grid covers how to lay them out on a page or screen. The book primarily examines the medium of print, but communication via computers frequently receives mention. Further, many of the concepts of graphical appeal can be translated to this increasingly common mew medium. (Some readers might also benefit from Lupton’s Type on Screen, but this work is the more important seminal work.) Like any graphical design book, frequent use of example images litter the book throughout. Every caption not only cites a source but also informs the reader of its worth.

As the subtitle suggests, multiple potential audiences exist for this classic. Pure graphic designers provide an obvious one, but writers, editors, students, and even web developers (like myself) can benefit from perusing Lupton’s pages. After reading this, I immediately changed a graphic or two in my software’s code. It’s hard not to get thinking creatively about how type is presented after reading this work, both through well-explicated ideas and copious inspirational examples. Reading it is time well spent. show less

Since Gutenberg, fonts have spent a lot of effort at perfecting how words appears on print. However, in the last several decades, screens have taken over. Thus, there has been a subtle shift in paradigms. For example, humans read text on screens typically further away than print; thus, designs for screens need to have a larger font size. To explore these nuances, Lupton (an established expert in typography) and her students at the Maryland Institute College of Art wrote this book, filled show more with graphical examples to inspire.

First, the good. This book is best considered as an anthology or collection of examples. Because these examples often come from her students, they take on a variety of forms and styles. Anyone looking for a starting point on a topic can find something useful in this book. Oftentimes, references for further research are provided with the example; this provides a treasure-trove to the engaged reader. Details are picked up in the text that can inform anyone engaged in the typography business, whether designers, writers, developers, or students.

However, because this book is a compilation, it lacks a consistent message and can vary thematically too much. Those expecting to see Lupton’s genius at work here might feel disappointed. The graphical examples and the accompanying captions are often stronger than the main text. Such an approach might not hurt this work’s affinity with designers, but other audiences like developers or writers could likely benefit from more theory. The last chapter in particular – on animated text – seemed to lose cohesion as a sequence of exciting examples instead of centrally conveying a theme.

Summary: Great with examples but lacking a strong theoretical message. show less

Extra Bold is the inclusive, practical, and informative (design) career guide for everyone!

Part textbook and part comic book, zine, manifesto, survival guide, and self-help manual, Extra Bold is filled with stories and ideas that don't show up in other career books or design overviews.

• Both pragmatic and inquisitive, the book explores power structures in the workplace and how to navigate them.
• Interviews showcase people at different stages of their careers.
• Biographical sketches show more explore individuals marginalized by sexism, racism, and ableism.
• Practical guides cover everything from starting out, to wage gaps, coming out at work, cover letters, mentoring, and more.

A new take on the design canon.
• Opens with critical essays that rethink design principles and practices through theories of feminism, anti-racism, inclusion, and nonbinary thinking.
• Features interviews, essays, typefaces, and projects from dozens of contributors with a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, gender identities, and positions of economic and social privilege.
• Adds new voices to the dominant design canon.

Written collaboratively by a diverse team of authors, with original, handcrafted illustrations by Jennifer Tobias that bring warmth, happiness, humor, and narrative depth to the book.Extra Bold is written by Ellen Lupton (Thinking with Type), Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie Xia, and Valentina Vergara. show less

This covered a lot of the same content as another graphic design book that I have read recently (A Primer of Visual Literacy) – points, lines, scale, texture, etc. Only, Graphic Design: The New Basics covered it in a much more interesting and relevant sort of way.

This book was, without a doubt, written for modern day readers. What with our shorter attention spans, it can be hard to grab our attention. This book covers each topic quickly and concisely, then goes on to show many examples of show more what it just described. It’s easy to understand each concept that’s presented in this book, and provides such a wide variety of examples that one can see how different concepts and techniques can be put to use in different ways.

Because most of these illustrations were done by a variety of designers – a good majority of them students – it gives a huge difference in styles, which keeps the book interesting.

I will definitely be keeping this book, and continuing to flip through it for inspiration when needed.

The Bottom Line
This would be a good introduction to the graphic design field. Highly recommended to those in the field. show less