Free Hand: New Typography Sketchbooks

In Free Hand: New Typography Sketchbooks, Steven Heller, respected graphic-design commentator, and Lita Talarico, design educator, offer glimpses inside the personal sketchbooks of more than 70 designers and typographers—including Philippe Apeloig, Ed Beguiat, Hoefler & Co., Henrik Kubel, Toshi Omagari, and Francesco Zorzi. Featuring a wealth of sketches, precision drawings, and computer-generated artwork, as well as a range of styles, concepts, languages, and alphabets, Free Hand illustrates the idiosyncratic creative processes behind the design of typefaces, logos, and word-images. A valuable resource for anyone who engages creatively with type—whether by hand or on a screen—this rich compendium emphasizes the power of typography in the digital age, while celebrating designers who continue to innovate in their practice of this time-honored craft.

Steven Heller and Lita Talarico are cochairs of the MFA Design: Designer as Author program at the School of Visual Arts, New York. Heller is the author of many books on design including Graphic Style, Typography Sketchbooks, and The Moderns. Talarico is the founding editor of American Illustration & Photography.