"Lettering & Type" is an introduction and in-depth look into the forms of our alphabet and how contemporary designers and artists are approaching and defining them. The last 10 years or so have seen a real explosion in custom lettering and type design and their proliferation in everyday visual vocabulary and environment. Hand-made lettering, beautiful new fonts, and experimental letterforms have infiltrated rock posters, movie credits, logos, even corporate advertising (see the Visa “Go” campaign for example).

The Internet especially has exposed designers to a wide range of styles and approaches that have further stretched the boundaries of lettering and type. If you’re a type designer today, you can instantly see the latest font someone has released in France. Or you can see wild, hand-lettered poster designs uploaded by a student in Mexico City. The rapid cross-pollination of styles and ideas is incredible. There are also many more designers and artists working with the alphabet as a subject for art and experimentation. You’re seeing more custom alphabets and letters that are made from unexpected objects, drawn to look like hair, or have a similarly startling form.

At the same time, typeface design, which is one of the world’s more arcane crafts, has begun to infiltrate mainstream culture. Within the past few years there have been a ton of articles about fonts and type designers in national publications, as well as a successful documentary film. A big contributor to all of this interest is the arsenal of hundreds of fonts on that everyone has on their personal computer. Unlike 25 or 30 years ago, you no longer have to be an expert to explore the effects of different typography. In general people are much more aware of what different type styles convey—just look at the popularity of the “Ban Comic Sans”movement for example.

We wanted "Lettering & Type" to be a good introduction to lettering and typeface design for any creative person who is curious about fonts or letterforms, whether or not they have a background in graphic design or typography. There aren’t too many books on this subject, and many of those are somewhat dry or outdated. From the outset we were trying to write the kind of book that either of us would like to pick up and read. "Lettering & Type" is full of great lettering and type examples (both contemporary and historical), but we also attempt to provide a real contextual background to everything we show; so that it’s not just another fancy-looking design survey but a book that you want to read, look at, and learn from.