Made With FontFont
BOOK REVIEW
Made With FontFont: Type for Independent Minds is a celebration of 15 years of the FontFont type library. The low-down (why do we never say “the high-up”?): it’s big, it’s yellow, has 351 pages and it’s divided into an introduction and five sections.
Introduction
A brief history of the founding of type distributor FontShop by Spiekermann in 1989; the beginnings of the FontFont type library and of FontShop International (FSI), the font publisher.
1 Thinking FontFont
An anthology of essays and type critiques.
2 Talking FontFont
Interviews with five FontFont designers. My personal favourite is Christopher Burke on Type (pages 132–145), the type designer behind faces like FF Celeste and FF Parable, and author of Paul Renner: The Art of Typography.
3 Making FF
Type designers visualise their motives, methods and sources. Includes a short and entertaining piece by Nick Shinn on A Brief History of Fontesque.
4 Showing FontFont
A collection of contemporary type specimens. Too many to list here; and anyway that would spoil it for you. Some of my favourites are in there: Scala, Eureka (I always think of Eureka as the typeface that punches you in the face, then throws water over you to rouse you from your knuckle-induced stupor). Eureka Serif is in my opinion the French Madam of serifs. Use it; you’ll fall in love with it–the face, not the French Madam, that is.
5 Made With FontFont
FontFont Fonts in use in the ethereal and prosaic worlds. An essential section. Type specimens are great, but it’s not until one sees a typeface in use–in the real world–surrounded by noise and nonsense that it really earns its keep.
I have recently finished re-reading this bright yellow type tome, and have concluded that it’s one of the very best books on type. Initially, I was reluctant to buy this title because it’s a book about a single type library, However, the FontFont library is pretty big.
I also thought that perhaps it’s nothing more than a big ad for FontShop aimed at flogging more fonts. Sell more fonts it will undoubtedly do, but reading this book will reveal its true intentions.
Behind this book, and woven through its pages is a passion for type–I guess that comes as no surprise when one sees Spiekermann’s name on the cover. If enthusiasm for type were hard currency, then he’d be the richest man in the world.
If you were to quickly flick through this book, then you might easily mistake it for yet another one of those insipid follies, those coffee table adornments, the kind of books you could put together from the ad pages of Vogue, and other flotsam. Made With FontFont is different, and is worth spending your money on.
My only criticism is the cover. Don’t get me wrong, I love yellow–and it’s very yellow; but I hate the cover design and the silly paint dribble nonsense on the spine. However, behind the awful cover (you may love it) is a 350-page type feast, so go on gorge yourselves. You’ll find that you’ll just want to lick some of the pages (I hope I’m not the only one suffering from such urges).
Made With FontFont is many Things: it’s a history of the founding of the FontFont library; it’s an inspiration with its numerous examples in as many faces and design styles; and you’ll come away from it with a greater appreciation for type and typography.
From a personal perspective, some of the examples of type use have helped to dispel some of my own type prejudices; and brought me to look at some long-disdained typefaces in a completely new light.
And Finally…
Perhaps it’s a small thing, but I think it’s important: you all know dummy text or filler text, that lorem ipsum and other equally unintelligible nonsense?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Etiam id mauris. Phasellus hendrerit. Vivamus egestas mi in nisi. Quisque nibh. Aenean ipsum nulla, fringilla ut, rutrum in, feugiat ultrices, ante. Nunc nec diam quis odio laoreet tristique. Mauris tempor venenatis neque.–Anonymous
Well, this book’s dummy text is not a dummy at all. Most of it makes for interesting reading; some of it contains some real gems:
Advertising and design serve to amplify the value of useful things.–originally from Ellen Lupton’s Mechanical Brides.
So rather than the dummy text being a brazen waste of good white space, instead it’s filled with readable and informative copy. That’s the crux really–it’s readable. How many of you read the lorem ipsum paragraph above? My guess is that none of you read it (unless you’re insane or very bored or both, in which case you’ll need to flick through another yellow book until you reach the 0800 SHRINK section).
Type only comes to life when we read it. Our “reading” eyes do to type what Jesus did for Lazarus–they resurrect it. Lorem Ipsum is the dead fish of type–it’s useless and it smells. Now you know why it’s really called “dummy text”. (for some alternatives see Dummy Generators, or use copy from public domain books.)
And finally, finally, if you want a great type book, buy Made With FontFont. If you don’t like it, I’ll give you your money back (did I really say that?).
Have you read it? What do you think?
Coming soon we have the second part in our hugely popular So You Want to Create a Font, by iLT’s US correspondent Alec Julien; and lots, lots more type goodness. If you haven’t already done so, then Subscribe to I Love Tyography and fill your RSS reader with typographical loveliness.
