HN Books @HNBooksMonth

I'm not sure if it's still the case but The Elements of Typopgrahic Style by Robert Bringhurst was my bible for picking up the nitty-gritty on typography: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Bri...

⬐ axvk

I actually also misread and wanted a book on typography so thanks.

⬐ bbcbasic

Looks like he made a topo

⬐ avindroth

Lol, there is a book called Typography for Lawyers, which is decent.

http://typographyforlawyers.com/toc.html

⬐ avindroth

Thanks, but I am looking for a book on topography (maps).

Thank you for the recommendation though!

IMHO css grids are a simple and fundamental method for accomplishing good design. I am very fond of Zurb's Foundation [1] as it seems to be the most logical means to my end design. Trying to stay objective in this matter, I would focus on fundamental concepts of design that have already proven the test of time. I think a good example of this would the book; The Elements of Typographic Style [2]

[1] http://foundation.zurb.com/ [2] http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...

hackdesign.org is pretty good provided you actually take their advice and look into the materials provided.

For example: there are 5 typography related 'modules' in the top level list.

In module 1. 'Dive into Typography', there are 6 different resources within.

From the one of those 6 resources, here are a list of materials mentioned:

* book - Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals [0]

* book - The Elements of Typographic Style [1]

* book - Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works [2]

* post - Unicode Beginners Introduction for Dummies Made Simple [3]

I've found this to be the norm for most posts, they may not cover absolutely everything about a single topic, but they will most definitely point you to somewhere that will.

[0] - http://insideparagraphs.com/

[1] - http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...

[2] - http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Stealing-Sheep-Works-Edition/dp/0...

[3] - http://pythonconquerstheuniverse.wordpress.com/2010/05/30/un...

⬐ lordbusiness

I disagree on hackdesign; I believe they're overrated. It's mostly just a daily blast of minimally curated stuff; you'd have as much success as a daily Google search for "design".

⬐ dkyc

Typography is one element of UI design - I agree with you that the material they provide / you linked to is probably high quality, but there must be a faster and more actionable way to learn to design than to read 3 books on every one of these elements! Imagine someone trying to learn to program: You would (probably) not recommend 3 books on Syntax, Compiler Design and Data Structures to even get started...

⬐ pcurve

I'm a design manager, but I also code too. I buy books all the time for my staff.

If you want a single book that covers all major topics with theories and plenty of examples, give this one a go.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592532616/

This is NOT a book on web design. This is book on graphic design and, a good one at that. It covers types, images, graphics, layouts, form.

Simply copying designs in this book will put you ahead of many 'professional' web designers. It's because many web designers do not fully understand what makes a design good (or bad).

Even though my work is all digital, personally I find most of the talented designers are still found in traditional print design world.

You can pick up a used copy for less than $15 shipped.

I’m not sure if there’s a better book out there for UI design in general, but The Elements of Typographic Style[1] was the typography bible.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...

1. [Visual Grammar](http://books.google.com/books/about/VISUAL_GRAMMAR.html?id=w...) by Christian Leborg

2. [Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465051359/) by Don Norman

3. [The Elements of Typographic Style](http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...) by Robert Bringhurst

4. [Grid Systems](http://www.amazon.com/Systems-Graphic-Systeme-Visuele-Gestal...) by Josef Muller-Brockmann

5. [Ordering Disorder: Grid Principles for Web Design](http://www.amazon.com/Ordering-Disorder-Principles-Design-Vo...) by Khoi Vinh

6. [Why Customers Really Buy: Uncovering the Emotional Triggers That Drive Sales](http://www.amazon.com/Why-Customers-Really-Buy-Uncovering/dp...) by Linda Goodman (I've had the pleasure of meeting her and overhearing her office conversation during my daily tasks at the office in Houston, where she worked for a spell. Incredibly sharp, and it is clear that her principles exposed in this book are thorough-going in her interactions with people. I think it would be important to apply her research to Lean methodologies, building Features only around Emotional Triggers. This is what we are aiming at, but I am making this connection right now, I believe, in saying this.)

7. [Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems](http://www.amazon.com/Contextual-Design-Customer-Centered-In...) by Hugh Beyer, Karen Holtzblatt

Edward Tufte's forum has some good discussions on type

This one is short

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0...

but see the collection of additional threads at the bottom of that thread.*

Also, Bringhurst: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...

------------------

*I like the "local masters" concept Tufte has (full disclosure, I helped prototype it), and Wikipedia does something similar.

>Nerds will never, ever get it through their heads that typefaces aren't cheap. They're expensive.

I realize that I am not normative. I consider "The Elements of Typographic Style" one of the better books I have read, period. It is a real pleasure to read: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...

I am willing to pay $$$ for good fonts, if they are available as web fonts at all. I didn't say that adobe should "democratize" high-end typography, I just said they will get the luddite foundries on-board.

W.R.T. being "virtually impossible to track", I think that is less true than you think it is -- there are many trivial ways to watermark fonts files.

Great question. The web being text oriented - I believe that typography is one of the most important aspects of a great website (visualization being the other).

If there's one seminal book - that would be The Elements of Typographic Style: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...

That's a deep dive into it though. If you're looking for a shortcut you can get a quick hold of them here: http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Typography-Gavin-Ambrose/...

At Future Simple (http://www.futuresimple.com) we think about that a lot, sometimes agonizing over it. We still have a lot of work to do :) - as any designer will tell you - we are never satisfied with our work...

It can all be traced back to a remark by Robert Bringhurst in his influential book "The Elements of Typographic Style" in which he suggests that in titles it is worth using the most decorative & sign we have (some fonts have different variants available) or even use the italic ampersand in roman context, because the italic & is often more decorative (ultimately they all come from a stylized "et").

I think many have taken it too far and the results sometimes look pretentious. An example still on the safe side (IMHO) is in pg's book:

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR2J5Pw_xUwVNxV_z504...

And the typograhy book (highly recommended):

Non-affiliate: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...

Affiliate: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0881792063/mybookbox-...

⬐ kazuya

Coincidentally I have just started reading ETS. Care to tell me where he actually talks about ampersands in the book?

I was searching yesterday, the results only really offered good stuff for typography learning (which I'm working on now), but overall graphic / web design are left out a bit.

Here are the resources I drilled out of the threads I came across:

Type: http://www.amazon.com/Logo-Lettering-Bible-Leslie-Cabarga/dp... http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-Manual-Principles-Pract... http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin... http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Typographic-...

Usability: http://www.amazon.com/Think-Common-Sense-Approach-Usability/...

Design: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592532616?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592533485?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159253192X?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592532349?ie=UTF8&tag=...

Web Design: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0975841963?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032145345X?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847192505?ie=UTF8&tag=... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735712069?ie=UTF8&tag=...

Sites: http://dribbble.com/ http://www.deviantart.com http://forrst.com/ http://lookslikegooddesign.com/ http://webtypography.net/toc/ http://ui-patterns.com/

I recommend Bringhurst's Elements of Typographical Style as a crash course in typography.

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...

It contains wonderful guidelines for typesetting and also gives a sense of history and culture behind common fonts.

Also useful is this site that outlines how to apply Bringhurst's principles to the web:

http://webtypography.net/

Andy Rutledge's blog has lots of good stuff. His five-part introduction to gestalt principles is about the basics of graphic design:

http://www.andyrutledge.com/gestalt-principles-1-figure-grou...

http://www.andyrutledge.com/gestalt-principles-2-similarity....

http://www.andyrutledge.com/gestalt-principles-3.php

http://www.andyrutledge.com/common-fate.php

http://www.andyrutledge.com/closure.php

For typography, Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style is a must-read. http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin....

You mentioned the looks of your sites, so the above are about visual and graphic design, but good interaction design will also help making people think your site looks better, is faster, has more features etc.

Be careful whose judgement you trust. People here on HN sometimes seem to have a caricatured view of users as only being attracted to visuals. In reality, visuals can't do much more than support (or ruin) an otherwise well-designed site.