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Typography Quotes

The best quotes about type and typography. Feel free to suggest new quotes (Login required).

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Typography must be as beautiful as a forest, not like the concrete jungle of the tenements. It gives distance between the trees, the room to breathe and allow for life.
Typography must be as beautiful as a forest, not like the concrete jungle of the tenements. It gives distance between the trees, the room to breathe and allow for life.
- Adrian Frutiger
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · September 16, 201510 yr
Legibility, in practice, amounts simply to what one is accustomed to. But this is not to say that because we have got used to something demonstrably less legible than something else would be if we could get used to it, we should make no effort to scrap the existing thing. This was done by the Florentines and Romans of the fifteenth century; it requires simply good sense in the originators & good will in the rest of us.
Legibility, in practice, amounts simply to what one is accustomed to. But this is not to say that because we have got used to something demonstrably less legible than something else would be if we could get used to it, we should make no effort to scrap the existing thing. This was done by the Florentines and Romans of the fifteenth century; it requires simply good sense in the originators & good will in the rest of us.
- Eric Gill
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · February 18, 201511 yr
The better people communicate, the greater will be the need for better typography—expressive typography.
The better people communicate, the greater will be the need for better typography—expressive typography.
- Herb Lubalin
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · June 4, 201511 yr
We cannot alter the essential shape of a single letter without at the same time destroying the familiar printed face of our language, and thereby rendering it useless.
We cannot alter the essential shape of a single letter without at the same time destroying the familiar printed face of our language, and thereby rendering it useless.
- Jan Tschichold
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · May 22, 201511 yr
If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the wrong shape. The spoon and the letter are tools; one to take food from the bowl, the other to take information off the page ... When it is a good design, the reader has to feel comfortable because the letter is both banal and beautiful.
If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the wrong shape. The spoon and the letter are tools; one to take food from the bowl, the other to take information off the page ... When it is a good design, the reader has to feel comfortable because the letter is both banal and beautiful.
- Adrian Frutiger
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · September 16, 201510 yr
You cannot acquire experience by working with a computer, but rather with a pen, with paint and brush, with the hands and with much effort. Only then can the New arise in your head.
You cannot acquire experience by working with a computer, but rather with a pen, with paint and brush, with the hands and with much effort. Only then can the New arise in your head.
- Georg Salden
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · June 1, 201511 yr
We are interpreters — not merely translators between sender and receiver. What we say and how we say it makes a difference. If we want to speak to people, we need to know their language. In order to design for understanding, we need to understand design.
We are interpreters — not merely translators between sender and receiver. What we say and how we say it makes a difference. If we want to speak to people, we need to know their language. In order to design for understanding, we need to understand design.
- Erik Spiekermann
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · October 21, 201510 yr
I’ve come to think that Helvetica was never intended to be the cold, perfect, rational typeface it’s portrayed to be. There is a subtle warmth in the shapes that was lost over the years.
I’ve come to think that Helvetica was never intended to be the cold, perfect, rational typeface it’s portrayed to be. There is a subtle warmth in the shapes that was lost over the years.
- Christian Schwartz
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · June 4, 201511 yr
why do we write and print with two different alphabets simultaneously? we do not speak a capital A and a small a …
why do we write and print with two different alphabets simultaneously? we do not speak a capital A and a small a …
- Herbert Bayer
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · January 17, 201610 yr
I discovered that I never really used Helvetica but I like to look at it. I like the VW beetle, too, although I’ve never driven one.
I discovered that I never really used Helvetica but I like to look at it. I like the VW beetle, too, although I’ve never driven one.
- Stefan Sagmeister
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · December 11, 201510 yr
When I put my pen to a blank sheet, black isn’t added but rather the white sheet is deprived of light. […] Thus I also grasped that the empty spaces are the most important aspect of a typeface.
When I put my pen to a blank sheet, black isn’t added but rather the white sheet is deprived of light. […] Thus I also grasped that the empty spaces are the most important aspect of a typeface.
- Adrian Frutiger
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · September 16, 201510 yr
People only talk about typefaces if they are type designers, or graphic designers, or are angry about them.
People only talk about typefaces if they are type designers, or graphic designers, or are angry about them.
- Christian Schwartz
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · September 20, 201510 yr
Type design: an exacting, arcane craft that is underappreciated for its impact on how people communicate and receive communication.
Type design: an exacting, arcane craft that is underappreciated for its impact on how people communicate and receive communication.
- Bruce Weber
Submitted: Riccardo Sartori · June 10, 201511 yr
Geometry can produce legible letters, but art alone makes them beautiful. Art begins where geometry ends, and imparts to letters a character transcending mere measurement.
Geometry can produce legible letters, but art alone makes them beautiful. Art begins where geometry ends, and imparts to letters a character transcending mere measurement.
- Paul Standard (Calligrapher)
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · October 8, 201510 yr
The first word of the first line is the critical word of that particular body of text. Let it start flush, at least.
The first word of the first line is the critical word of that particular body of text. Let it start flush, at least.
- William Addison Dwiggins
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · December 22, 201510 yr
A good typographer is always a good reader.
A good typographer is always a good reader.
- Stephen Coles
Submitted: Riccardo Sartori · June 9, 201511 yr
Type and typography—what you do and how you do it—are both science and art.
Type and typography—what you do and how you do it—are both science and art.
- James Felici
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · August 31, 201510 yr
Typefaces are not only there to be read, you also see them.
Typefaces are not only there to be read, you also see them.
- Hans Peter Willberg
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · January 6, 201610 yr
The first one hundred fonts are the most painful.
The first one hundred fonts are the most painful.
- James Montalbano
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · November 9, 201510 yr
Futura on a screen is like a cat in a bathtub.
Futura on a screen is like a cat in a bathtub.
- Tobias Frere-Jones
Submitted: Riccardo Sartori · August 15, 20196 yr
There are so many young and talented type designers today. I think we are in a kind of type design renaissance.
There are so many young and talented type designers today. I think we are in a kind of type design renaissance.
- Mark Simonson
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · April 11, 201610 yr
Distance – distance from tradition, from technology, from prejudice, that’s actually is what we need. We are always burdened down by what we know. We are permanently preoccupied with what we are doing and always slightly suspicious towards new things coming our way, things which can help us reach new goals, but might make it necessary to re-think and remind us: don’t stop, don’t stagnate! (…)
Distance – distance from tradition, from technology, from prejudice, that’s actually is what we need. We are always burdened down by what we know. We are permanently preoccupied with what we are doing and always slightly suspicious towards new things coming our way, things which can help us reach new goals, but might make it necessary to re-think and remind us: don’t stop, don’t stagnate! (…)
- Günter Gerhard Lange
Submitted: ksschneider · May 14, 20215 yr
A life rich in reading is the only path to thinking and creating.
A life rich in reading is the only path to thinking and creating.
- Mandy Brown
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · December 2, 201510 yr
Trajan is the Arial of film posters.
Trajan is the Arial of film posters.
- Yves Peters
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · August 12, 201510 yr
The good, old legible types formerly used in print are being scorned in these days (on account of the new ones being cut every day). And yet, however many new faces may be cut, when they have been forgotten and no more new ones can be imagined, the old ones will once more be produced under the pretence that they are new, as is the case with other things.
The good, old legible types formerly used in print are being scorned in these days (on account of the new ones being cut every day). And yet, however many new faces may be cut, when they have been forgotten and no more new ones can be imagined, the old ones will once more be produced under the pretence that they are new, as is the case with other things.
- Wolfgang Fugger
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · August 10, 20187 yr
Lettering differs from type in the same way that modeling clay differs from LEGO® bricks.
Lettering differs from type in the same way that modeling clay differs from LEGO® bricks.
- Mark Simonson
Submitted: Riccardo Sartori · June 25, 20187 yr
If we think it concerns us, we read everything.
If we think it concerns us, we read everything.
- Erik Spiekermann
Submitted: Ralf Herrmann · January 6, 201610 yr
The only place Avant Garde looks good is in the words Avant Garde.
The only place Avant Garde looks good is in the words Avant Garde.
- Ed Benguiat
Submitted: Riccardo Sartori · August 15, 20196 yr
A typeface family is an accomplishment on the order of a novel, a feature film screenplay, a computer language design and implementation, a major musical composition, a monumental sculpture, or other artistic or technical endeavors that consume a year or more of intensive creative effort.
A typeface family is an accomplishment on the order of a novel, a feature film screenplay, a computer language design and implementation, a major musical composition, a monumental sculpture, or other artistic or technical endeavors that consume a year or more of intensive creative effort.
- Charles Bigelow
Submitted: Riccardo Sartori · January 27, 20188 yr
[…] There is a hidden talent in every human being. As a teacher it is my task to spot that. Even if a hundred people are saying, he or she can’t do anything, got bad marks or dropped out of school – that’s not important. This is point zero, let’s get to work. […]
[…] There is a hidden talent in every human being. As a teacher it is my task to spot that. Even if a hundred people are saying, he or she can’t do anything, got bad marks or dropped out of school – that’s not important. This is point zero, let’s get to work. […]
- Günter Gerhard Lange
Submitted: Kirsten Solveig Schneider · April 22, 20251 yr

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