At this point, at least 90% of the words I read in a day on a screen. Between my phone and my computer, my reading is done almost exclusively on a device. Most of the books I’ve read lately have been in ePub format, and I often take my phone or laptop to the coffee shop to read.

But my preference to read on the screen has little to do with how comfortable it is or how much I enjoy it. Truth be told, I often prefer the visceral experience of reading a book. But I can’t stand having that many physical objects.

The debate about eBooks vs. paperbacks is well-worn territory, and I won’t bore you by chiming in far too late on the debate. What I want to stress, however, is that there are a few thinkers and designers at the vanguard of web typography that are wedding the comfortability and harmony of the experience of reading a book with the convenience, ease, and searchability of screen text. Let’s take a look at the sites that make me hopeful about web and screen typography.Read More

If you’re a typographer or designer, it seems like you could spend your entire salary this year on excellent conferences in the design industry. There are a number of truly exceptional conferences coming up between now and the end of the year. I’ll show you some of my favorite events that are coming up in the design and type communities, talk about the speakers and their topics, and give you my take on the conference as a whole.Read More

After hours of aligning type to the baseline grid, it’s finally finished: I proudly present the new Everyday Type. I …Read More

I always get excited for new type releases, especially from boutique foundries. There’s so much great type being made every single day, and it’s always exhilarating to run into a new foundry you haven’t explored yet.Read More

We’re a little over a year beyond the huge realization that we can finally use real fonts on the web in a viable, sustainable, and affordable way. Type delivery services have started cropping up all over the place, and we’ve seen that there are so many ways to add new and exciting typography into our designs. Over the past 15 months or so, I’ve been experimenting with a number of the services over this time, looking at their offerings, fonts, and philosophies.

As a designer and a blogger about type, I took my type delivery service selection seriously. I wanted a service I trusted. I wanted a service I could commit to so that I could get that decision out of the way and go back to what I care about: creating great experiences on the web with solid typographic style.

Ultimately, I chose Typekit. What follows is my list of reasons why.Read More

I’ve always loved what the Society of Typographic Aficionados has done with the Font Aid projects. I think their work is incredibly important, and it’s beautiful to see designers around the world come together for a cause. Ultimately, I feel like it’s our responsibility as artists to come to the aid of those in need. Read More

I’m putting the typographic control of my blog in the hands of the interweb. Between now and midnight PST on Friday, April 8, 2011, your job is to pick a headline font and a text font that I will then use for this site. Winners get some awesome prizes including books by A List Apart and a donation to Japan and a license for Font Aid V.Read More

In my opinion, the H&FJ typefoundry makes some of the best fonts available today. Their fonts can be seen in logos or identities from the Obama campaign to Wells Fargo. In my mind, these typefaces have always been synonymous with print. But do Hoefler and Frère-Jones have something up their sleeve? Let’s take a look at the evidence. I think I’ve even settled on a date for the release.Read More

Think you’re great with font recognition? How much do you know about the “a” glyph in different iconic typefaces? Can you tell the difference between the “a” in Georgia and Times New Roman? How about Garamond and Jensen? Then run to the iTunes App Store and pick up Typography* and prove it!Read More

I wrote a post on typographic ligatures over at webexpedition18.com. It focuses on the history of ligatures, how to use them in many common layout applications, and ends by looking at some of the most beautiful fonts containing ligatures. Read More