‘How to create typefaces’, now in its second edition

Many people seeking to create their own typefaces often don’t know where to begin. There are so many aspects to type design that the job can seem overwhelming. That’s what makes How to create typefaces  by Cristóbal Henestrosa, Laura Meseguer, and José Scaglione such essential reading. It takes readers through all the stages of creating a typeface, from a blank piece of paper to a completed typeface and beyond. The second edition has been released by the Portuguese publishing house itemzero and features numerous updates and improvements.

How to create typefaces is an essential guide to type design. It comprehensively breaks type down into the smallest particles, and then shows how those particles build structures, and how those structures create systems. Written by three acclaimed type design veterans, the book also shows how type designers bend the rules to achieved the desired results, and teaches readers how to see typefaces and the ways they have been created.

How to create typefaces gathers together the three authors’ extensive domain knowledge in an easily comprehensible, visually appealing form. Cristóbal Henestrosa is a professor in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the National Autonomous University of Mexico; Laura Meseguer is a type and brand designer who designed Playpen Sans in collaboration with Veronika Burian and José Scaglione, and José Scaglione is the co-founder of TypeTogether and the designer or co-designer of literally dozens of typefaces.

The 160-page second edition features more than 120 technical diagrams, optical studies, and skeletal grids. It is printed on high-opacity technical grade paper for maximum ink density, and has a Smyth Sewn binding for laying flat on workbenches.

How to create typefaces can be purchased from the itemzero website.