Book Review: Just My Type

Here's a confession: I judge books by their covers. For that matter, I also judge restaurants and clothing stores by their logos and signage, too. I can't help it. I have a bit of a font problem. So much so, in fact, that being out and about is dizzying for me. I can't drive down the freeway without analyzing billboards, road signs, and bumper stickers. As I drive, I'm identifying fonts and solving problems with spacing. I've even told Bryce, "I could never eat at that restaurant. They used the wrong font on their sign." Yikes. My name is Christina Williams, and I'm a fontaholic. Feel free to stage an intervention.

It's probably no surprise that I picked up the book Just My Type: A Book About Fonts. Not only does it have a great cover...excellent use of spot UV with the black-on-black, but the words inside the cover are great, too. Garfield examines everything from printing methods, to movie posters, road signs all with a sense of humor. He touches on some hot-button font controversies (Comic Sans, anyone?) including the IKEA font change and movie posters gone bad. Scattered throughout the book, you'll find history lessons on some of the more enduring, timeless fonts and the people who created them. I highly recommend this book. But I warn you: You'll never look at a billboard the same way again.