Type Advice

Click on image to go to Amazon.Com

I finished reading Ellen Lupton's book, "Thinking With Type" which I totally recommend to anyone who really wants to learn typography.  Click on the image to buy it at Amazon. At the end of her book, she has a section called Free Advice - Go Have Some Fun.  This was the advice:

Think more, design less.

 Many desperate acts of design (including gradients, drop shadows, and the gratuitous use of transparency) are perpetrated in the absence of a strong concept.  A good idea provides a framwork for the design decisions, guiding the work.

Say more, write less.

Just as designers avoid filling up the space with arbitrary visual effects, writers, should remember that no one loves their words as much as they do

Spend More, buy less.
Cheap stuff is usually cheap because of how it’s made, what it’s made of, and who made it. Buy the better quality goods, less often.

May you thoughts be deep and your wounds be shallow.

Always work with a sharp blade. Although graphic design is not a terribly dangerous occupation, many late-night accidents occur when involving dull X-Acto blades. Protect your printouts from senseless bloodshed

Density is the new white space.

In an era of exurban sprawl, closely knit neighborhoods have renewed appeal. So, too, on a page and screen, where a rich texture of information can function better than sparseness and isolation.

Make the shoe fit, not the foot.

Rather than force content into rigid containers, create systems that are flexible and responsive to the material that are intended to accommodate.

Make it bigger (Courtesy of Paula Scher).

Amateur typographers make their type too big. The 12-pt default—which looks okay on the screen—often looks horsey on the page. Experienced designers, however, make their type too tiny.

It is easier to talk than to listen.

Pay attention to your clients, your users, your readers, and your friends. Your design will get better as you listen to other people.

Design is an art of situations.

Designers respond to a need, a problem, and a circumstance that arises in the world. The best work is produced in relation to interesting situations—an open-minded client, a good cause, or great content.