The Typography Manual

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. → Learn More If you spend a lot of time in a web publishing environment, it pays to be aware of all the little things that make writing and layouts work — and not work. The wrong line height or kerning/font combination can be disastrous to readability. You can, of course, read books on the subject, but a ready reference tool can be had in this Typography Manual app, which looks about as to-the-point as such things can get. It does in fact comprise a short book, along with some handy tools for the printer or publisher like conversion tables and a font ruler. It doesn’t have an iPad form yet, unfortunately. $4 in the App Store. Sponsored Ads Sponsored Ads Sponsored Ads Read More

Alle paar Monate erinnere ich mich daran, an dieser Stelle meine persönlichen, derzeit aktuellen iPhone-Homescreens abzubilden. Das letzte Mal war dies im September ’09 der Fall. Mir gefällt sowohl der retrospektive Blick auf den eigenen Bildschirm (Gott, was hattest du damals bloß installiert!), als auch der Austausch und die Empfehlungen, welche über eure Kommentare hereingespült werden. ‘Bestenlisten’ oder ‘Highlight-Zusammenstellungen’, wie sie dieser Tage in Form von ‘die zehn besten Anwendungen für Katzenliebhaber 2009′ durchexerziert werden, liefern (mir) keinen echten Mehrwert. Daher freue ich mich zum Jahresstart auf eure Bildschirmphotos mit Programm-Empfehlungen! Hier meine Homescreen-Veränderungen, mit denen ich in das neue Jahr gestartet bin: ‘Unterhaltungssoftware’ und ‘Spiele’ verschiebe ich mittlerweile auf Seite 3 und höher. Dabei beschäftige ich mich derzeit mit folgenden Titeln, die eventuell noch eine nähere Vorstellung erfahren: Plushed (1.59 €; App Store-Link), JetCarStunts (1.59 €; App Store-Link), N.O.V.A. (5.49 €; App Store-Link), The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (2.99 €; App Store-Link), Speed Forge (2.39 €; App Store-Link), Font Game (0.79 €; App Store-Link) und Super Monkey Ball II (5.99 €; App Store-Link). Read More

Ask any designer what their favorite font is and you'll get one of several thousand possible answers. Fonts aren't merely pretty characters on a display; they are an art form. Each font family conveys a particular aesthetic meaning that can make or break any design, if used properly or improperly. In fact, I've long suspected the ancient Egyptian civilization was brought down by the creation of Papyrus. The recent appearance of the faux-ancient typeface in the film Avatar as subtitles will surely doom us all -- especially if viewed in 3D. The folks at ILT share our font fixation, and they've developed a highly addictive text teaser iPhone game that puts your font knowledge to the test. The Font Game [$0.99, iTunes link] challenges you to identify a series of fonts presented onscreen; you then select one of four possible answers. Each correct answer is added to your overall score, with a maximum possible tally of 30 points (one for each presented font). The real challenge, however, lies not only in the recognition of fonts, but the speed at which you identify them -- with the obvious goal of achieving 100% accuracy in mere seconds. You can boast your impressive score on Twitter using the game's built-in tweeting feature, or display your name in the "Hall of Fame" scoreboard, where your name will live as legend until someone bests your score. A WordPress plugin is even available to display your score on your website, in the ultimate display of vanity. The Font Game is incredibly addictive; it single-handedly consumed nearly three hours of my life, and burning the image of obscure font families forever into my retinas. What I find most striking about TFG is the overall attention to detail and thoughtful design which clearly went into this app; a quality reminiscent of the Tapbot apps, which is high praise indeed. Its design is simple and elegant, with intuitive controls and a clean interface. Lots of tender loving care went into this game, and it shows. For a mere $0.99 the Font Game is a fantastic and fun little game for any font fanatic. A recommended download. You can see a few screenshots from the app in the gallery below. Read More