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TypeStyle: How to Choose & Use Type on a Personal Computer
Daniel Will-Harris
A friendly, example-packed guide to type from the giddy dawn of desktop publishing, when suddenly anyone with a laser printer could set their own pages — and mostly did it badly. Daniel Will-Harris, a genial popularizer of professional design ideas, walks the newly empowered amateur through the emotional and psychological effect of typefaces, how to combine them, how to build mood on a page, and the classic pitfalls to avoid, all in abundant before-and-after examples. The software references are now historical and the whole thing is steeped in the early-1990s moment of PostScript fonts, but its underlying sense of how type carries meaning is timeless, and the examples still train the eye. A charming period piece that happens to still teach.
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The author
Daniel Will-Harris is an American writer, designer and typography enthusiast who became a prominent voice in the desktop-publishing boom, writing books and columns that translated professional design ideas for the new home-computer audience. His style is conversational and example-driven, aimed at demystifying rather than credentialing.
The book
TypeStyle is a guide to choosing and using type on a personal computer. It covers the emotional and psychological effect of typefaces, how to combine them, how to build atmosphere on a page, and the common pitfalls of the newly empowered amateur — all illustrated with abundant before-and-after examples.
How it has aged
The software references are now historical, and the book belongs to the early-1990s moment when laser printers and PostScript fonts were revolutionary. But its underlying design sense — how type carries meaning and mood — is timeless, and the examples still teach the eye.
For more context
It pairs naturally with Robin Williams's contemporaneous The PC Is Not a Typewriter, another classic of the desktop-publishing era.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Daniel Will-Harris
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Craft & How-to
- Location
- Colorado