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Second edition
(paperback)

  • revised and updated
  • 9.25 x 12 inches (23.5 x 30.5 cm)
  • 216 pages
  • softcover with silver foil-stamping
  • yellow gilded edges
  • type descriptions by Stephen Coles
  • hundreds of typefaces + type combinations
  • low-cost or free alternate typefaces
  • visual index of page layouts

Second Edition

Explorations
in Typography

Carolina de Bartolo with Stephen Coles and Erik Spiekermann

Order the book $35 + free shipping

The second edition of Explorations in Typography is available in paperback. The softcover carries the same typesetting examples and typefaces as the hardcover, along with the visual index of page layouts and grids. Throughout, it sets an excerpt from Stop Stealing Sheep by Erik Spiekermann, with typeface descriptions by Stephen Coles and an index of alternate typefaces that are low-cost or free for educational use.

Outside the US? Get the e-book below.

Get the e-book $20 instant download

Explorations in Typography, second edition, with the TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence The paperback open flat, showing Erik Spiekermann's Type Builds Character set in a single column with typeface notes printed in orange down the outer margin. The paperback open at Exploration 21, Overlap, where three columns in Harriet Display and Harriet Text overlap across the page. The paperback open at Exploration 12, Paragraph Indicator: Capitals—a fluorescent orange page facing an oversized orange numeral 12 struck through with black rules. The paperback open at the Typeface Combinations section, listing the two faces used together in each Exploration. The paperback open at Exploration 16, Paragraph Indicator: Leading, the passage set in FF Magda Clean Mono with the specifications reversed out of black bars. The paperback open at Exploration 15, Paragraph Indicator: Point Size, an orange page facing black text rules running across a splattered orange numeral. The paperback open at Exploration 12, Capitals, the text set in Le Corbusier and ruled off at an angle. Close-up of the paperback cover: the silver foil-stamped X mark on black, the red TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence seal, and the yellow gilded page edges. The spine of the paperback reading Explorations in Typography, Second Edition, with the 101 Editions mark and the yellow gilded edges. The back cover of the paperback, listing the excerpt by Erik Spiekermann, type descriptions by Stephen Coles, hundreds of typefaces and the visual index of page layouts, above the ISBN barcode.
  • revised and updated
  • 9.25 x 12 inches (23.5 x 30.5 cm)
  • 216 pages
  • softcover with silver foil-stamping
  • yellow gilded edges
  • type descriptions by Stephen Coles
  • hundreds of typefaces + type combinations
  • low-cost or free alternate typefaces
  • visual index of page layouts

Recognition

  • Type Director’s Club (TDC no. 63) Certificate of Excellence 2017
  • AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books/50 Covers 2016
  • TDC (Type Director’s Club) Annual no.58
  • AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers 2011
  • FPO Awards 2013, Honorable mention
  • I.D. magazine Annual Design Review 2012
  • Print magazine Color in Design Awards 2013
  • Awwwards.com, Site of the Day 2011

Praise for Explorations in Typography

As someone who works with typography and design every day, I have a few books I turn to when I need to clear my mind of clutter. One of my favorites is Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style, which includes this rumination on the sanctity of the title page: “Think of the blank page as alpine meadow, or as the purity of undifferentiated being. The typographer enters this space and must change it. The reader will enter it later, to see what the typographer has done.” Lines like this refresh my understanding of the task at hand and clarify my sense of purpose. Carolina de Bartolo’s book, Explorations in Typography, has a similar effect, albeit via entirely different means.”
—Typographica.org

…this impressive ‘visual textbook’…shows how small changes can have a big impact on the look and liveliness of text type.”
—Communication Arts magazine

…a marvelous book that explains some of the most commonly used typesetting devices…a welcome addition to any design bookshelf.”
—The Designers Review of Books

An atlas for the typographic explorer. The book is an inspiration, both in terms of its sheer design quality and the lessons it imparts.”
—The New Code

I have noticed so many things with my typesetting already that I didn't notice before, and I have just started the book.”
—J.G., design student

This book is rocking!”
—W.C., design student

Wow, what a book! It’s the perfect blend of form and function. A true work of minimalist genius.”
—P.M., designer

…some wonderful teaching materials.”
—C.G., design professor, The Illinois Institute of Art

I want you to know how valuable this book is and it is one of the only books that actually shows how to do style sheets that make beautiful paragraphs. Thank you for that.”
—G.A., design professor, California State University

I love it—it’s very beautiful and shows a wide array of advanced options for thinking about layout.”
—B.L., design professor, Portland State University

it is a beautifully designed book that visually folds in numerous ideas about design in an accessible and thoughtful manner.”
—M.L.A., type and graphic designer and lecturer

The book is very very useful for me, but even more useful to teach my senior as well as my junior designers at the studio.”
—W.D.O., creative director

…something quite unique in the industry!”
—N.R., publisher

…beautifully crafted and thoughtfully produced.”
—E.S., design professor, San Mateo Community College

I feel like my mind has been trained when I see all the beauty in a book like this!”
—R.L., design student

Masterful à la Müller-Brockmann’s Grid Systems.”
—D.T., startup founder and CEO

I really love it, wish I had gotten it sooner.”
—J.D., designer

Order the book $35 + free shipping

Get the e-book $20 instant download

Title page of Explorations in Typography, second edition, the title set large in orange with Carolina de Bartolo, Stephen Coles and Erik Spiekermann credited beneath. Contents spread listing all 24 Explorations—from Paragraph Indicator: Indent through Hierarchy: Point Size and Weight—each with its page number and the typefaces used. Opening spread of Exploration 1, Paragraph Indicator: Indent, a flat orange page facing a page where the text is drawn as ruled lines over a grid of orange dots. Exploration 2, Paragraph Indicator: Exdent, pages 26 and 27. The same passage set in FF Engine and FF Tibere with the layout grid overlaid in orange and the design notes running down the margin. Exploration 3, Paragraph Indicator: Extra Leading, pages 32 and 33, with guidance on how much leading to add and the passage set in FF Nuvo Medium. Exploration 7, Paragraph Indicator: Drop Capital, pages 62 and 63. A Charlemagne Bold drop cap three lines deep opens text set in Joanna Nova Light Italic, with notes on optically aligning the cap. Exploration 9, Alignment: Justified, pages 78 and 79. Erik Spiekermann's text Type Builds Character set justified in FF DIN, and again in the bitmap face Lo-Res. Exploration 21, Paragraph Indicator: Overlap, pages 152 and 153. Text blocks in Harriet Display and Sassoon Primary overlap and interlock across the page. The visual index of page layouts, pages 190 and 191, showing each setting as a thumbnail diagram—margin, column width, interlock, overlap and direction. The typeface combinations index, pages 198 and 199, pairing the Exploration face with its colophon face for every setting in the book. The index, pages 212 and 213, running from activating the page through to x-heights.

Notes

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