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Design topic

Typography

Typography carries most of the load in interface and print design, so learning to set type well is the highest-leverage craft skill you can build. This covers the anatomy of letterforms, how typefaces are classified and chosen, the mechanics of setting readable text, typographic hierarchy, and making type work across screen sizes.

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RecommendedWebsite

Practical Typography

Matthew Butterick

A free, opinionated web book on setting type well, written by a lawyer-turned-typographer.

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.

TypographybeginnerFreemium3 hours

Best resources

EssentialBook

Thinking with Type

Ellen Lupton

A clear, well-illustrated primer on letters, text, and grids from a leading design educator.

TypographybeginnerPaid8 hours
RecommendedCourse

Better Web Type

Matej Latin

Matej Latin's course and book on web typography for designers and developers.

TypographyintermediateFreemium4 hours
ReferenceWebsite

Fonts In Use

Fonts In Use

An archive documenting and analyzing typography used in real design work.

TypographyintermediateFree30 min
ReferenceBook

The Elements of Typographic Style

Robert Bringhurst

The canonical, near-exhaustive treatise on the craft and history of setting type.

TypographyadvancedPaid12 hours
ReferenceTool

Type Scale

Jeremy Church

A visual calculator for building modular typographic scales.

TypographybeginnerFree15 min
ReferenceWebsite

Typewolf

Jeremiah Shoaf

A typography reference showcasing fonts in use on real websites, with recommendations and pairings.

TypographybeginnerFreemium30 min

Collections

Sequenced path

Visual Design Fundamentals

Build the perceptual and structural foundation to make deliberate visual decisions instead of nudging by eye.

4 steps · About 12 hours over 3 to 4 weeks
Sequenced path

Typography for Interfaces

Set type in interfaces with intent: readable body text, clear hierarchy, and typefaces chosen for reasons.

4 steps · About 14 hours over 3 to 4 weeks

Key concepts

AnatomyClassificationTypesettingHierarchyResponsive typeLegibility

Connects to

Visual DesignUI Design