A book about fonts? Sounds fascinating right? I didn’t think so either, but I was pleasantly surprised that ‘Just My Type’ was a pleasure to read. Somehow it has made me interested in the topic of type! But why?

First of all, apologies for the extremely cheesy title, but I couldn’t resist.

This blog post is hopefully my first, of many, book reviews. I hope not to bore you with these, but instead provide a brief insight into my thoughts and opinions.

I first saw the book ‘Just My Type: A Book About Fonts’ by Simon Garfield, whilst snooping around the St Brides Library in London, doing research for my christmas holiday type projects set by University. I read the first page and was automatically fascinated, causing me to later order it online.

I found a great website for books: abebooks.co.uk. It sells second hand books, always in good condition and very cheap! You can get ‘Just My Type’ for as little as £3.00!

Out of all the Graphic Design sub-topics, typography has never been my favourite. But this book opened up a whole new perspective on the way I now look at typefaces.

The structure of the book allowed me to become easily imersed. It didn’t use a lot of complex terminology and easily informed me of the history of typefaces whilst also placing them in the context of modern day. Between most main chapters, there were ‘font-breaks’ where Garfield would inform us about particular fonts. For example, who knew that Eric Gill, creator of Gill Sans, sexually experimented on his daughters, sisters and dogs, and yet his typefaces are still used all around the country!

I now find myself walking around and recognising (and appreciating) typefaces. The book encouraged my love for fonts like Helvetica, and also my hatred for Comic Sans, and was written with the perfect balance of fact and humour.

Overall score: 8/10

Definitely worth a read whether you’re a design student or not. It illuminates even a walk to the shop, and leaves you feeling more appreciative of the art and history of typography.