Sequenced path
Type carries most of the meaning on a screen, so this is the highest-leverage craft to get right. The sequence goes from quick wins to real understanding, with a reference to grow into.
required · Website
Why here. Quick wins first. Butterick gives you the few rules that fix most amateur type immediately, so your work improves before you go deep.
What to extract. Point size, line spacing, line length, and using one good typeface instead of a default.
How to study it. Read the ten-minute summary and the key rules, then apply all of them to something you are currently working on today.
Milestone: Your current project now has correct measure, leading, and a deliberate typeface.
required · Book
Why here. Now build understanding under the rules. Lupton makes anatomy and classification stick because everything is shown, not just stated.
What to extract. Letterform anatomy, how typefaces are classified, and how to build hierarchy with type alone.
How to study it. Do the exercises on the companion site. For one paragraph, set it three ways and articulate why one reads best.
optional · Book
Why here. Keep this on the shelf as a reference. When a typographic decision feels arbitrary later, Bringhurst has the considered answer.
What to extract. The reasoning behind decisions you are already making, and a precise vocabulary for them.
How to study it. Do not read it front to back now. Look up two sections that relate to a real problem you have hit.
practice · Book
Why here. Put type to work in a real interface, where hierarchy and spacing decide whether it succeeds.
What to extract. Establishing hierarchy with weight and color, and pacing text with space.
How to study it. Take a text-heavy screen and rework only its typography. Show a before and after and name the changes.
Milestone: You have improved a real screen through typography alone.
Set the same article of text for three contexts: a marketing page, a documentation page, and a dense dashboard. Justify each choice.