We asked our neighbour in Smithfield Square Paul McBride from Detail Design Studio if he would like to do us the honour of reviewing New Perspectives in Typography by Henrik Kubel and Scott Williams. Here’s what he had to say about it.

It’s been a while since I’ve had the time to sit down and really read a design book, I mean really read one… rather than the cursory thumb through that now passes for having read one. Michael Bierut’s Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design was probably the last time, and this book came to mind when I picked up New Perspectives. The cover is very similar with a punchy fluro and the obligatory long list of the great and the good typographically speaking. I’m sure design books are subject to the same market forces that have brought us the curly handwriting, purple hued flurries of ‘chic lit’ covers to the sepia-tones silhouettes that grace the historical thriller. Needs must I suppose but a little too familiar for the topic in hand.

What is refreshing about this book are the four essays that frame and contextualise the visual examples. So restraining myself from diving straight to the visuals, I steeled myself for a return to theory and the irritation of navigating the all-bold typesetting. I know it’s popular, but by God it made it hard work, that and the green headings (fluoro wasn’t an option throughout?) that ran under the body proper made reading in anything but glorious day light or flickering fluorescent a new perspective in itself.

Anyway, grumpy aul lad® moan out of the way, these were insightful, well paced and raise interesting points about legacy, art, relevance and the future of typography. Paul Shaw’s historical recap acts both as a refresher on the history of typography and as a touch-point by which we can see the links, connections and influence in the contemporary work showcased. It also introduced me to the phrase ‘typographically catholic’ which I’m still trying to figure out but will most definitely use.

Monika Parinder and Colin Davies’ essay entitled Type Today and Tomorrow is pretty wide in scope, exploring type’s reach in this multi-platform modern-age. From the democratisation of type design to cataloguing dialects that facing extinction to it;s physical manifestation on the high street and cinema. It ends with an examination on ‘style’ that I can see as the basis for healthy debate over a few pints at the next OFFSET.

Meanwhile Emily King’s piece shifts tack in exploring the use of type in art and the overlap in roles, and relationships between designer, typographers and artists. Finally, Rick Poyner’s essay is particularly interesting in grounding all talk of type in real terms; questioning the efficacy of typography in all it’s multi-modal glory for the ‘non-specialist viewer’. Although he is calling for more research into how type is perceived; it begs the question (while undercutting the examples that follow) that this whole world is still so very niche. Well, that’s my take out.

Meanwhile Emily King’s piece shifts tack in exploring the use of type in art and the overlap in roles, and relationships between designer, typographers and artists. Finally, Rick Poyner’s essay is particularly interesting in grounding all talk of type in real terms; questioning the efficacy of typography in all it’s multi-modal glory for the ‘non-specialist viewer’. Although he is calling for more research into how type is perceived; it begs the question (while undercutting the examples that follow) that this whole world is still so very niche. Well, that’s my take out.

As for the work itself, Williams and Kubel have curated a tasty blend of typographic treats; from the fresh and exotic (Lehni, Bil’ak) to some of the more familiar faces (Scher, GTF)… no pun intended. The essays obviously provide the insight and but also multiple ways to framing your interpretation which in fairness made me re-evaluate some pieces. The additional sidebars give a greater context to selected projects; like the Salt identity and E-types Medi Label Safety System, punctuating the visual onslaught and adding pause for thought.

So is it worth getting? Yes, as a broad snapshot of early 21st century typography or even just as a recourse from the mindless consumption of design blogs/sites, you’ll gain some insight. Definitely a worthy addition to the library.