Great Resourse
As a Desktop Publisher in the making this is a very valuable resource. It was highly recommended to me by 2 instructors and I have found it very useful already.
Type Idea Index
I have all of Jim Krause "idea" books. They contain a lot of inspiration in a small amount of space. I keep them nearby at home and at the office. I flip through them while thinking about an idea for a new project.
Good creative resource
I appreciate the way the book's sections are divided into "personalities" such as "energy," "organic," "technological," etc. The "rebellious" section made me laugh more than once. This book not only presents layouts but critiques them. Sometimes the book presents obviously "bad" font layouts, and explains why they are unsuccessful. Personally, I learn what to do by first learning what NOT to do.
Type Idea Index encourages mixing computer graphics with other media and even handmade processes. From the book's critiques, I realized font families originate from physical printing processes. Coming from a non-graphic design background, I now feel more competant to go beyond Photoshop drop-down font menus.
The Jim Krause "Index" book series together probably deserves the full five-star rating.
Good ideas
Jam packed with lots of good type ideas. I've used it a few times to spark something. Not really much more to say about it, it's a collection of a wide variety of font treatments, mostly great, some not so great.
It is full color unlike the original Idea Index. I'm sure I will continue using it for years to come. It's important to have books like this in your design reference library, you never know when you are going to run across the perfect font treatment for your next design, and being a small easily accessed book, this works great.
(4 reviews)
