-
Ortotipografía for designers, by Raquel Marín Álvarez
If you are a designer and you work with texts, this book will be tremendously useful. Normally, books on orthotypography are aimed at translators, philologists and the world of letters. For that reason, its author, Raquel Marín Álvarez, makes an almost absolute compilation of rules to be used, solving from the most basic doubts, as if the quotation marks of all existing ones should be used according to the situation. And others that perhaps we have never considered, such as the correct way to write a postal address.
If we work with texts, whatever their format, reading this book will be very fruitful. And even if we have an editor or style editor, it is never too much for us to notice that we are using incorrect elements in our texts.
-
Typomag. Typography in the Magazines, by Laura Meseguer
A temporary trip through the typography of thirty well-known magazines. In this first book of a series focused on the typographic world, Laura Meseguer compiles the use of typographical sources in them, taking into account different aspects, both functional and aesthetic.
Perhaps one of the virtues of the book is to retrieve unknown publications for many people, such as Elephant or Little White Lies. It even goes so far as to mention very minority and indie magazines, that we could almost say that the only way we have had the chance to know them has been through this book.
In addition, it does not remain in the visual, since it puts us in context of the birth of each magazine, what were its motivations or why did they use that particular typeface.
-
The Graphic Design Idea Book, by Steven Heller and Gail Anderson
Graphic design is like alchemy. Several ingredients are mixed to obtain the desired result, although sometimes uncertain. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on the experience, experimentation, evidence and results of professionals who have worked for many years in our field.
Steve Heller and Gail Anderson make a collection of innovative people who have created the current world of visual communication. Divided into five major chapters, each one focuses on an idea, such as narrative or geometry. And it shows the work of these teachers, how they approached these concepts, and what their results were.
This book does not give you the answers about what you should do before a blank paper, but it gives you all the questions you should ask yourself. And maybe that is really the solution. If you are looking for a good place to start in graphic design, this book is a good option. While it will not teach you how to be an artist, it can help you focus your existing skills on styles established by the great masters of the profession.
