Letterforms : type design from past to future / Timothy Samara.

Includes indexes.

Subtitle on cover: Typeface design from past to future.

Heritage: a very long (yet somewhat abridged) introduction to the history of letterform design -- Legacies: nomenclature and current aesthetic design conventions -- Foundations: fundamentals of character, structure and optics -- Evolution: strategies and processes to help guide the budding type designer -- Reinvention: envisioning structure and style in new ways for narrative and conceptual expression -- The state of the art: a showcase of contemporary directions in typeface design.

"Designer, author, educator Timothy Samara is a world authority on type and graphic design. His 2004 Rockport book, Typography Workbook has become an essential reference text for design classrooms and industry professionals. Now, ... he takes readers even deeper, expertly guiding them through the aesthetics as well as the technical considerations of his subject. He begins with an overview spanning the invention of movable type to today's digital typography, and ends with a showcase of contemporary fonts. Samara's true focus in this book is conveying the essentials of type design to practitioners, and thoughtfully and thoroughly explaining and illustrating the development of form and style. He walks you through letter form anatomy, stroke formation and rhythm, tool methodologies, structure and proportion, tool methodologies, and tons more. This all makes for one excellent, timely reference work that designers can return to in designing logos, wordmarks, signage, titling accents, and all of their graphic design work."--Publisher's description.