Everyone has different styles of learning and teaching. Some people record lectures to re-listen to later, and others take very extensive notes while reading. I’m a visual learner, and that’s why I’m loving Carolina de Bartolo’s Explorations in Typography.
As an instructor of typography, de Bartolo initially developed the visual exploration exercises in her book to help her students practice typesetting, challenging them to “learn by looking.” By changing typefaces, leading, indents, alignment and font size while keeping the text the same, de Bartolo’s students learned how each of these factors contributed to the tone of the message.
Though it was created with students in mind, Explorations in Typography is a great reference tool for type professionals as well. The book uses sample text from Erik Spiekermann‘s essay, “Type Builds Character.” Page after page, the same text is manipulated by utilizing different typefaces and modifying indentation, leading and so on. De Bartolo also created an interactive website to accompany the book, where visitors can make these same changes to the site’s homepage.
De Bartolo has been teaching at the graduate level for a decade and is presently an instructor at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Published by 101 Editions, Explorations in Typography is her first book and can be purchased here. [SJ]
