Practical Typography
Matthew Butterick
beginnerFreemium3 hoursButterick
Visit original resource(opens in a new tab)Opens practicaltypography.com
Butterick gives you the 20% of typography that fixes 80% of amateur work: point size, line spacing, line length, and one good font instead of a system default. Read the "Typography in ten minutes" and "Summary of key rules" first and your documents and screens improve the same day. It is the best on-ramp before a heavier text like Bringhurst.
What you will learn
- The handful of rules that separate amateur from professional type
- Choosing and pairing typefaces
- Setting body text for readability
How to study it
- Read it once, then state the single core claim in your own words without looking. If you cannot, you did not read it closely enough yet.
- Note one thing you will change in your own work because of it. An article that changes nothing was entertainment, not study.
- Revisit it once a week later; the second pass with a gap is where it sticks.