HANDWRITTEN: EXPRESSIVE LETTERING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
by Steven Heller and Mirko Ilic´

This book focuses on hand-drawn graphics in the 1990s and early 2000s, when new programs made digital typography the norm. From advertising campaigns to CD packaging, hand-drawn typography is the modern designer’s answer to the tedium of computer-generated work. It brings back to the world of typography the notion of unique and fastidious design.

Handlettering is divided into chapters beginning with the letter s, describing the method they were produced—“Scrawl: raw, splotchy, untidy” (includes notables such as Woody Pirtle and Robynne Raye); “Scratch: scraped, cut, gouged” (Louise Fili, Stefan Sagmeister); “Script: ornate, curlicue, sinuous” (Milton Glaser, Michael Beirut); “Stitch: sewn, sutured, embroidered” (Mirko Ilic´); “Simulate: redrawn, fake, copied” (Michael Strassburger, Seymour Chwast); “Shadow: dimensional, voluminous, monumental” (Fred Woodward, Steven Heller); “Suggestive: metaphorical, symbolic, surreal” (Stephen Doyle, Gail Anderson); and “Sarcastic: comical, ironical, satirical” (R. Crumb, Chris Ware). “Do not be surprised if you have never considered needlepoint as being of typographic importance because it routinely goes unmentioned in type history classes,” advises Heller regarding his chapter on stitched lettering.

“The paradox of this book is that by showing this as unconventional work it implies its own conventionality,” writes Heller. “The fate of most avant-gardes is acceptability. When and if every designer makes scrawls instead of using type, a natural reaction to conformity will ensue. But, for now, the strength of the hand is in its ability to render serendipitous results.”
$45, hardcover, 192 pages, Thames & Hudson, Inc.

DESIGN LITERACY [SECONG EDITION]: UNDERSTANDING GRAPHIC DESIGN
by Steven Heller

A collection of critical essays on major symbols, trends, and designers, Design Literacy [Second Edition] is complete without being overly illustrated. “[The book] serves as an alternative to the omnibus compilations that reduce graphic design to just so much visual noise, and examines a variety of individual objects, focusing on their significance in the broader histories of graphic design and popular culture,” explains Heller in his introduction.

This edition is expanded by 32 essays, and the format of sidebars along a historical timeline is maintained from the first edition. The book is not organized chronologically; Heller instead divided it thematically. He admits that some of these essays may overlap others in different sections, but he points out that that is simply the nature of the beast of design.

Responding to Milton Glaser’s critique that the essays in the first edition of Design Literacy were disconnected and lacking the substance needed to hold them together, Heller writes that he meant them as “self-contained units.” He continues, “The problem for me is that not all design fits snugly into well-organized categorical berths.” Design Literacy [Second Edition] offers fresh insight into the past century of design. The incohesive configuration makes it a more interesting read than similar books on design history. This book is one person’s journey toward design literacy and may help others to achieve the same—but Heller certainly makes no promises.
$24.95, softcover, 464 pages, Allworth Press