Typography Sketchbooks

The two authors Steven Heller and Lita Talarico have managed a remarkable and extensive collection of your book Typography Sketchbooks provides a fascinating insight into typographic sketchbooks from around the world. More than 100 renowned designers and typographers (for example, Erik Spiekermann) have been willing to look over their shoulder and released their sketches for publication in this book. This seems all the more remarkable when one knows how carefully hidden from the sketchbooks of most designers usually eke out a drawer rather shadowy existence. The general public gets so usually the best published, finely elaborated results of all those design processes to see, at the beginning once stood a few bold strokes in a sketch book. But this just made the first sketches, to prevent spontaneous ideas on the fly on the run, often have their own special charm. Quickly thrown onto the sheet or drawn affectionately tell you a lot about the creative process - usually invisible - running in the head designer. The examples range from rough sketches to fine-drawn drafts to complete illustrations - the boundaries between disciplines are blurred. And the variety of expression is broad: from pencil, marker, pen and brush to vector graphics, everything is represented.

The design :
In addition to the substantive weight of the book comes with its impressive 368 pages and a half kilos, making it not just as a reading on the go - but that's not supposed to be. The carefully prepared presentation of the sketchbooks will be made in this book, almost the entire surface is available, introduction and commentary by the authors limit themselves to what is necessary. Nice detail are the page numbers that move with increasing value of the right leaf edges of the book up. To name the only point of criticism might be the legibility, by the decision to initiate in matt blue print on dark gray background, and to put the explanatory text to the designers on a transparent surface over the sketches, is difficult in some cases fairly.

The authors :
Steven Heller has written over 130 books on design topics or edited. For 33 years he was art director at the New York Times and the U & lc magazine and earns makes a number of projects to develop creative talent.
Lita Talarico co-founded the "School of Visual Arts MFA Design Program" in New York City and several other design projects, including in Italy. She holds lectures on design topics around the world and is involved with Steven Heller for the promotion of creative talent.

My personal conclusion :
I admit it: I have a soft spot for sketchbooks. Both for their own, which I have in many variations and at varying fill with drawings and sketchbooks from the artist friends and colleagues, in which I may from time to time have a look. Sketchbooks keep between their covers a wide range of volatile designers thoughts from oblivion and its secular allies, the Recycle Bin. For me, I'm from the illustrative range, Typography Sketchbooks a nice source of inspiration, an informative picture book, so to speak. I enjoy living on the flow and the graphic quality of many of the examples and the ideas that are visible in the sketches.

Also interesting are the texts that are written on the sketches for each site designers. In addition to biographical details, there is usually a brief statement of the designer to his motivation to make sketches. From a strictly earmarked capturing ideas through to the mindless scribbling of fun of it all.

I can not judge whether this book is also for colleagues in the field of type design is able to be a source of inspiration for their work. It could be that the sketches - carry not much new to the eyes of one who is concerned for years, of itself with the design of letters - despite their aesthetic quality. Nevertheless, I think the book is a good acquisition for all designers, it - love, colleagues to look at their work on the shoulder - like me.