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RESOURCES
Blogs, Links,
and Online Resources
Whether it’s information about a particular typeface, the latest typographic developments and trends, or simply a
bit of inspiration, typography blogs have it all. Some of the sites we list below are simply great portals for showcas-
ing work the site owners have seen and liked. Others are vast depositories of invaluable typographic information.
AisleOne
www.aisleone.net
AisleOne is put together by New York–based designer Antonio
Carusone, an associate creative director at Ogilvy, and dis-
plays a distinct fondness for what’s sometimes called Swiss
Style typography. The site introduces itself as an inspira-
tional resource focused on graphic design, typography, grid
systems (), minimalism, and modernism, and it cer-
tainly lives up to its claim. There is a terrifi c selection of
work on show ranging from brand-new projects to histori-
cal material from the s () and s (). In keeping
with the minimalist nature of the visual content, the cap-
tions for each article are generally succinct. However,
this does not matter as the visuals really say it all.
BeautifulType
www.beautifultype.net
This typography blog, created by Web designers Francis Chou-
quet from Switzerland and Aurélien Foutoyet from France,
intends to act as an inspirational showcase of their online work.
What’s interesting is that so much of the work is “handmade,”
especially given the fact that they are both Web designers. This
lends credence to the idea that all good design, typographic
or otherwise, starts with a pencil and a blank sheet of paper.
The site is quite new with a limited number of posts as of this
writing, but the selection of work showcased thus far is excel-
lent. Keep logging on to see how the site develops.
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Design Observer
www.designobserver.com
Design Observer is the real deal when it comes to high-end
design-driven discussion, and it has developed from its earliest
days into a group of connected sites. Observatory covers a vast
range of general design topics including typography. Change
Observer covers news about design and social innovation.
Places is a forum of design for the public realm. Observer Media
is home to audio and video content, and Observers Room is a
straightforward design blog.
Michael Bierut, William Drenttel, Jessica Helfand, and Rick
Poynor founded Design Observer in October . The site now
boasts a roster of contributors that reads like a who’s who of the
design world. Strictly speaking, it’s slightly erroneous to include
Design Observer in a directory of typography-specifi c sites, but
the reality is that this site should appear on every directory
relating to any sites connected to the design industry. For many,
it’s a daily read.
Easily Amused
http://johndberry.com/blog
John D. Berry is an editor and typographer, as well as the fi nal
editor of the venerable U&lc magazine and U&lc online, origi-
nally published by International Typeface Corporation ().
At the time of this writing, he is the president of the Association
Typographique Internationale ().
His blog, Easily Amused, exists as a subsection of his main
portfolio website and contains an extensive archive of well-
written and well-considered articles stretching back to May
. Though he does not post articles daily, he does go more
in depth for individual posts than the average blog. It’s rather
like reading complete magazine articles. The site isn’t over-
populated with inspirational imagery, but at least one related
image accompanies almost every article. However, this site is
much more about the text. A useful tag cloud leads the viewer
to groups of related articles by clicking on links such as book
design, letters, or signage, and previous articles are accessible
by month all the way back to the site’s inception.
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The End Grain
www.end-grain.net
This site is the work of Bethany Heck, a recent graduate of
Auburn University in Alabama. It’s a real labor of love in
that Heck is obviously smitten with anything letterpress
and wood type, so anyone who feels the same should make
this a must-read.
The site revolves around Heck’s collection of wood type
letters, which are featured in her Daily Letters section, but also
includes Character Studies, a blog charting her eff orts to expand
her collection. The site also lists some useful links to print shops
working with letterpress and wood type, which provide inspi-
ration. Plus, there’s additional information for users wishing
to get started with their own letterpress work and about where
they can purchase letterpress work examples for themselves.
FontBook
www.fontbook.com
Hot of the press at the time of writing is a terrifi c new iPad app
from the good people at FontShop International (; ), the
publishers of that huge yellow type compendium that’s been
sitting on every graphic designer’s book shelf since . The
new app features more than , typeface specimens, which
is equivalent to more than twenty of the printed books, so this
really is the ultimate typographic reference tool. Fonts can be
viewed by name, style, typographic classifi cation, designer,
foundry, or year of publication. You can also cross reference
faces that display similar design characteristics, very useful if
you know what you like but can’t fi nd the right font for your next
project. The app is primarily an online browser, so you’ll need
to stay connected to view all the content, but there is an offl ine
mode that allows you to access a reduced content selection. The
app will of course be continually updated as more typefaces
become available, and there are some exciting additional fea-
tures planned for future releases.
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The FontFeed
www.fontfeed.com
The FontFeed has been around since September and is a
spin-off site belonging to the well known and highly regarded
online font vendor FontShop International (; ). Earlier
in , FontShop cofounder Erik Spiekermann () decided
to create a standalone blog dedicated to all things typographic.
The FontFeed is the result.
Once part of the main FontShop site (www.fontshop.com),
FontFeed has now grown into a more independent voice free of
any commercial restraints it felt from its inclusion on the parent
site. Editor-in-chief Yves Peters maintains it and posts articles
alongside former FontShop type director Stephen Coles, design
writer Jürgen Siebert, and Spiekermann himself. A frequently
updated general news section contains a wealth of interna-
tional content including type events, new font releases, calls
for entries, case studies, and more. There are also separate tabs
fi ltering articles relating to specifi c areas of typographic inter-
est. Handpicked typefaces highlights articles on both newly
released and classic typefaces, Type Tips includes basic tips and
more advanced tutorials about a range of typographic issues,
and Fonts in Use () provides examples of typefaces in use in
the real world, with accompanying commentary.
Fonts In Use
http://fontsinuse.com
Fonts In Use twists the inspirational typographic showcase blog
on its head in the way it allows the viewer to search the content.
As well as tags to search by industry or format, there is a tag for
every typeface featured in each piece of work included on the
site. Want to see how Eames Century Modern looks in a real life
project? Just click on the typeface to head directly to those that
use the face.
The site is an independent project run by Sam Berlow,
Stephen Coles, and Nick Sherman. (Coles and Sherman both
maintain additional sites, respectively Typographica (;
) and Woodtyper (). The principal aim of the site is to
provide a focused critique on typography in design, cataloging
real-world projects from all areas and design disciplines.
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Grain Edit
http://grainedit.com
Although not strictly a dedicated typography site, California-
based Grain Edit focuses on classic design work from the s
() through the s () juxtaposed with contemporary work
by designers and typographers infl uenced by the styles of those
periods. As well as the usual mix of blogger articles and samples
of inspirational work, the site includes interviews with leading
design practitioners, type specimens, ephemera, posters, and
vintage books from the collections of Dave C, Elizabeth Surya,
Ethan Davis, and Grace Danico, the team members who put
together the site. With archives dating back to September ,
there is lot of excellent material to browse, with many articles
reminding readers of the important infl uence typographic
styling has on the look and feel of any given design genre.
I Love Typography
www.ilovetypography.com
I Love Typography is the brainchild of British-born graphic
designer and writer John Boardley, who now resides in Japan.
The site, launched in August , strongly focuses on how let-
terforms originated and why type looks the way it does. It off ers
some great articles about font design, type terminology, font
identifi cation, and just about everything else type-related.
Readers could easily spend many hours browsing the content,
so avoid this site around deadline time.
That said, a well-organized search section is arranged chron-
ologically, making browsing articles of particular interest a
breeze. Boardley produces much of the content himself but also
invites contributors to contact him with their own ideas for arti-
cles. That keeps the content nicely varied in terms of opinion
and writing style. It is arguably one of the most up-to-date sites
in terms of its reporting of current typographic trends, new font
releases, and events, and its list of links to other typographic
sites is vast.
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