A book that moves in towards an investigation into the technics of making metal type by hand, and then out towards a discussion of designing digital type now. In the course of the discussion, Smeijers takes in the fundamentals of designing and making letters, so that he can be read as a guide to type and font construction in any medium. Lively, pointed drawings and photographs complement an equally fresh text.

This occasional, book-length work is edited and produced at the Department of Typography, University of Reading, and is now published by Hyphen Press. It publishes extended articles on its subject, exploring topics to the length to which they want to go. Its scope is broad and international, its treatment – serious and lively.

A short and strong statement of position by a type designer. The book takes a wide view, taking in the business of present-day font production, and the technics and the ethics of type as software. As always, Smeijers’s arguments are informed by a strong historical sense. The book also shows his own work as a designer, and is published as a conclusion to the award to him of the Gerrit Noordzij Prize.

A book that moves in towards an investigation into the technics of making metal type by hand, and then out towards a discussion of designing digital type now. In the course of the discussion, Smeijers takes in the fundamentals of designing and making letters, so that he can be read as a guide to type and font construction in any medium. Lively, pointed drawings and photographs complement an equally fresh text.