swimming in ink: just my type

Know the difference between serif and sans serif? Ever spent hours perusing dafont.com? When scrolling through your font toolbar, could you take a quick nap before you reach the end? Do you feel personally assaulted when sent an email with Comic Sans or CurlzMT? Then Just My Type is probably the book for you.

From Guttenburg's press to the era of hipsters with Helvetica tattoos, Just My Type covers it all. Garfield takes time to really explore the history of type development and its ever-evolving impact and influence on audiences. He also examines some of the biggest trends and faux pas in font use as well as some of history's greatest font wars…yes, you read that right, wars over fonts.

And though it certainly has a visual aspect to demonstrating the fonts being discussed, this book is by no means destined for a coffee table. The best part…you don't have to be a graphic design junkie to enjoy it. I promise! Garfield is intellectual and lighthearted, throwing in a slew of random facts, interesting stories, and personal thoughts. Plus, he’s is no type expert…just a font enthusiast himself. 

From one Amazon reviewer, "[Garfield] writes about the artisans behind the lettering, and most interesting, how certain fonts cause emotional responses in the people who view them. Why were some fonts popular for hundreds of years, only to fall from favor? How do fonts determine what consumers buy and what they don't buy? And how boring our lives would be if everything was printed in the same font."

There’s a lot more to type design that most people realize, even though it surrounds us in every aspect of our lives. I mean, you’re reading this right now…in a font. So stop browsing MyFonts.com, trying to figure out whether you can afford that latest-and-greatest, just-have-to-have-it sans serif beauty, and check out Just My Type.

Just My Type by Simon Garfield

384 pages, paperback

Gotham Books, copyright 2012

ISBN: 1592407463

(for the record, I bought this book on my own and received no compensation for this ballin review either from Mr. Garfield or the dudes at Gotham)