Type and Color

Traditionally, typeface designers think in black and white. Type and Color: How to Design and Use Multicolored Typefaces by graphic designer and Dutch design studio founder Mark van Wageningen is a hefty new hardcover from Princeton Architectural Press which turns that practice on its head. Perfect timing, really, as multi-color lettering is so hot right now. I had noticed the trend too, and have been thinking about it quite a lot lately. Wageningen, who has won quite a few awards for his own typeface work, gives you all the tools you need to understand, design, and develop your own colorful fonts. The 180 page tome explores “The End of Black and White” typography, and moves onto how multicolored fonts are constructed. It also covers some fundamentals such as letterspacing before launching into an exploration of the the future of typography, especially in relation to color theories. Along the way, Wageningen supplies you with a ton of impressive multicolor typography examples, not to mention endless pleasing color palettes, complete with CMYK color swatch values on each page. The last two chapters deal with producing and utilizing your own colorful custom letters, starting with a sketch and ending with digital files. “Color is the new bold!” Available via Amazon.