The Gift of Christmas Type

Christmas is fast approaching, and I’ve resisted the temptation to add snow and tinsel to my header. There will be no snow on this blog. I’m sure that most of you–being incredibly well-organised–will have completed your Christmas shopping by now. For those who haven’t, here are some gift ideas for those who love type. Depending on your budget (and how much you like the intended recipient), there’s something for just about everyone.

For typenuts with a sweet tooth, how about this:

I don’t recommend typesetting an entire book with these. Thanks to Mark for sending me this link.

Start your day with a coffee in one of these. Type and Latte combined; could it get any better?

Via the wonderful Hoefler & Frere-Jones (always a great place for beautiful type-related things). Or, how about these absolutely stunning Wood Type Notecards:

Buy an Emigre t-shirt, and relive the good old days of the best Design magazine ever to grace the news-stands.

Still on the t-shirt theme, why not a Typophile t-shirt. You’ll have to wait until the New Year for the I Love Typography T-shirts, I’m afraid.

Buy a great T-shirt and at the same time support our favourite source of quality free fonts, Exljbris:

Fallen in love with a typenut? Win her heart, by putting the FontBook in her stocking–you’ll need a big stocking, preferably with steel reinforcement as this one weighs in at a pretty hefty 3kg (6.6 lb)!

How about a type sample book? Why not make your own. Have a friend who loves Template Gothic or who’s crazy for Meta Serif, Feijoa or Kinescope? Make a sample book and get it printed at BookSmart.

For Type Sample inspiration and tips, see Ellen Lupton’s web site, or ask one of the friendly type designers here.

Don’t forget to buy yourselves something for Christmas. And what better gift than a typeface. Here are a few to get you started:

There are many more in the black sidebar on the right, or you can peruse the vast FontFont library of fonts. Or, how about a type book? Choose from the recommended books above and to your right (unless you’re reading this standing on your head); or take a look at one of these:

I have all but Letters of Credit (recommended by Dan of TypeOff [happy birthday]); I’ve read all the others and can recommend them.

Other News

For those of you who like your type without counters, you’ll like this:

Lost Type

My flight was cancelled after a scary aborted take-off, so I had to fly via Amsterdam and South Korea; and in all that chaos, I lost my type design notebooks! No great loss to the world, but annoying nonetheless.

Budget Type

And if you’re really broke, then why not send your friends a life-time subscription to I Love Typography. It’s completely free, and always will be. That way you’ll be giving me the gift of a new visitor too :)

Coming Soon

The third part in the type terminology series–Transitional Type. Also an article on Serifs–really a long-overdue follow-up to the Who Shot the Serif? article; and much more.

Have a great Sunday everyone, and a typographically lovely Christmas.

typography news video