Typographic Design: Designing Fonts

Typographic Design: Designing Fonts explores the craft of creating type through the perspective of Blaze Type, the French type foundry known for expressive and high‑quality typefaces. The book highlights the educational and professional role of Blaze Type, showing how their typefaces, design philosophy, and teaching initiatives support both emerging and experienced designers.

The publication provides a comprehensive look at Blaze Type’s mission: liberating designers’ creativity with typefaces conceived as real working tools, combining technical precision with strong visual expression. It also addresses licensing, cultural context, and pedagogical aspects, demonstrating the foundry’s commitment to building a knowledgeable design community.

In May 2023, founder Matthieu Salvaggio launched learntype.eu, an online guide for beginners, students, and graphic designers who want to start in type design. This initiative addressed a gap—few accessible, up‑to‑date resources existed, and many quickly become outdated due to ongoing technical developments. Originally conceived as a prototype and laboratory for both content and form, the guide has since been redesigned and expanded into a print book published by French publisher Pyramyd. This new edition is tailored to support today’s designers in their type design journey.

The book itself reflects careful typographic thinking. Behind its understated cover, the object is thoughtfully designed with a soft binding and loose spine that lies flat on the desk, an index on the title page, and a refined two‑color layout that highlights essentials. The horizontal format places titles at the top and text in three clear columns below, guiding the eye and making reading continuous content comfortable without visual overload. Explanations throughout are concise, pragmatic, and supported by clear examples drawn from the Blaze Type catalog—reinforcing the book’s usefulness as a practical reference.

Content in the book is structured progressively into four main sections: Principles, Glyph Analyses, Particularities, and Appendices. The Principles section establishes fundamentals such as vocabulary, typeface anatomy, classifications, serif variations, and optical adjustments — relevant for both newcomers and seasoned practitioners. The Glyph Analyses section, considered the core of the book, breaks down the construction of capitals, lowercase letters, numerals, punctuation, and accent characters in a logical order. The method begins with simple forms like the capital “H”—a cornerstone for many related letters—then progresses to more complex shapes, reinforcing consistency and efficiency in designing a type family.

In the Particularities section, the book dives into noteworthy features of the new edition, including ligatures, stylistic details, and especially the treatment of italics—distinguishing between cursive, oblique, and slanted styles, and examining curves, anchor points, and serifs. Thirty‑two detailed entries unpack these subtleties that demand both a keen eye and technical mastery. The Appendices address often overlooked but essential topics, such as defining a creative brief, marketing a font, licensing models, and useful online resources—all critical for turning typeface design into a professional, distributed tool.

With its 324 accessible and clearly written pages, Salvaggio’s book stands as a contemporary reference for students, graphic designers, and enthusiasts seeking to understand typographic design. Its handy format, excellent readability, and thoughtful structure make it an ideal companion to consult during the design process. In conclusion, the author reminds readers that typography is a field where everyone remains a student for life—emphasizing that the learning journey never truly ends.

Typographic Design: Designing Fonts

Publisher: Blaze Type
Author: Matthieu Salvaggio
Design: Hic et Nunc studio
Release: 2025
Format: 16 × 24 cm
Volume: 324 pages
Language: English

ISBN: 978-2-35017-621-5
Price: €39.– (DE)

Buy here: pyramyd-editions.com