Welcome to Type Blog

I am happy to have you here at Type blog. The goal of Type blog is have companion resource to my new Instagram TV (IGTV) channel that is able to provide more in depth explanation about the topics I am covering. Through my study of typography I have found that a lot of the information or resources on typeface design are difficult to find, or simply doesn’t exist. This lack of transparency stems from two problems: typography books and publications can be hard to find, and some information has never been written about or widely published.

Source: https://www.nai010.com/en/publicaties/theory-of-type-design/186086

The study of typography has come about recently (Unger, Gerard). Before the formalization of typography as a study, it was a black box trade, where skills were learned through apprenticeships and work (ibid). The evolution to typography being taught in classrooms fosters the recording of typographic knowledge and greater discourse on the topic of typefaces (ibid). Since the field of typeface design is still emerging and growing, the key books or information that most other professions have are yet to be established in typography (ibid). The continued establishment of the design practice will continue to lead to more information being generated. A great resource to read more about the gap in knowledge as well as the field of typography as a whole is Gerard Unger’s book Theory of Type Design.

One of the problems in the continued research and generation of knowledge in typeface design is that there are few institutions that do critical research into problems in typography (Unger, Gerard). Doing high-level research is important to any field, as it furthers the knowledge base and allows a wider community to learn (ibid). The problem does not end with research into typography as often it is difficult for typographic information to be published and disseminated (ibid).

Through my own personal experience, I can attest, that finding published information on typeface design can be difficult to find. Typography books are often completely absent from libraries or only found at specialty bookstores. When typography books are in bookstores they are often organized within other design section, forcing you to search through the section to find books that apply. Unfortunately, typography is a pretty niche topic, and therefore the titles that stores often carry try and cater to a larger audience, of designers, and are more general books on typography with lots of pictures that aren’t necessarily helpful. Meanwhile, academic papers and research often doesn't receive wide circulation. One of the reasons for this is there are oftentimes copyright issues when trying to publish photographs.

All of these reasons is why I am starting this blog. My goal will be to provide links and more information about typeface design, and places where resources can be found. I will be using my blog in unison with my IGTV channel to offer instructional videos about designing typefaces.

I will be keeping my IGTV videos simple, quick, and easy to watch. Therefore the videos aren't going to be exhaustive about the subject. Instead they will be  great companion pieces to go along with my blog posts. Every two weeks I will post an IGTV video along with a blog post that provides more in depth information as well as resources on the topic.

If you have any questions feel free to post in the comments, email me, or message me directly on my instagram. I am always happy to help explain something in more detail or provide more information about typography. I am by no means the final authority on any of these topics, I am continuing to learn, and always will be, so if you have great insight to a topic I would love to hear from you.

I hope you are as excited as I am for this new blog as well as my IGTV chanel.

Alex John Lucas

References: Unger, Gerard. Theory of Type Design. nai010, 2018.

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