FONTASTIC! – A review of Simon Garfield’s Just My Type: A Book About Fonts

Do the shapes of letters have a language unto themselves? That is the question that writer Simon Garfield answers in his book, Just My Type: A Book About Fonts. Besides being a writer, Mr. Garfield is a miracle worker. He has done something I think nobody has been able to do before: make a book about fonts interesting. Just My Type is not a technical book about the application of fonts. It is more than a history of fonts. It is a book filled with mini-epics. Each chapter deals with how a font was created and how its presence has impacted our culture, and in some ways, our thinking as well.

Mr. Garfield does a fine job in looking at society’s response to fonts. The beginning chapter chronicles Comic Sans’ rise in popularity and it’s fall into infamy. For each font, Garfield narrates its conception, and you would be surprised at some of the complexities and trials some of the type-makers had to endure just to create a new way at looking at words. I’ll now have a better appreciation for Helvetica while at the same time I’ll never look at Gill Sans the same way again  (spoiler alert: the guy’s twisted). The book looks into our reaction to fonts and how it affects our choices. Sometimes a font, like our sense of smell, can trigger memories of something positive or negative. Sometimes an overused or ugly font can affect going to a store, buying a book or seeing a movie; no matter how good or bad the item might really be. The book invites you to take a second look at the words and see how its shape tells us about our own perceptions.

I personally find this book interesting for two reasons. As a graphic designer, fonts are an important tool to understand. Sometimes fonts are more important than the art piece itself. Just My Type gives you a strong apprehension of how the shape of words can have a strong psychological impact. For example, just caps alone CAN MAKE IT SEEM I’M SCREAMING TO YOU. IF I WROTE THIS ARTICLE ALL IN CAPS YOU WOULD PROBABLY EITHER FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO READ OR WONDER WHAT ISSUES I’M HAVING TODAY.  If you are an editor of any sort, this book will give you a broader understanding of how the the right or wrong type can affect a person, a business and even at times, an entire culture. If you think I’m exaggerating, read Chapter 8 where Mr. Garfield talks about Johnston Sans. When you look at the scenery of early 1900’s Britain, the look of the font in subway stations and advertising helps gives that time period its character.

The second reason why I found this book interesting is that, as a writer, it makes one aware of how type can affect the feel of an article. Also, it gives writers more tools to set create a greater emphasis in one’s work. Writers can change the font of a character’s speech to reflect a time period, or setting, or even slang.

The book has a little bit of everything to entertain all readers. If you are graphic designer, a business man, a history buff, a student of language. a psychologist or a lover of short stories, this book is all of these things. Just as body language can sometimes tell you more than words, the shape of letters can give you the tone and feel of the idea before you finish the first sentence. After reading this book, I won’t see words the same way, and neither will you.