Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals

By Cyrus Highsmith

What goes on inside a paragraph of printed text? Cyrus Highsmith's Inside Paragraphs is an essential primer on the basics of typography that focuses specifically on the role of printed text within a paragraph. Engaging full-page illustrations and Highsmith's accessible explanations show the role of white space between letters, words, and lines. Perfect for students and professionals alike, this updated edition includes a new preface.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Release date: Aug 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781616899783

Cyrus Highsmith

Cyrus Highsmith is a typographer, teacher, author, and graphic artist. He teaches type design at the Rhode Island School of Design and leads workshops and lectures frequently in the United States, Mexico, Europe, and Japan. His type foundry, Occupant Fonts, offers dozens of original typefaces and clients include Rolling Stone, starwars.com, Ford, La Prensa Gráfica, ESPN, and El Universal. In 2017, he became creative director for Latin Type Development at Morisawa USA. He has received awards from the Type Directors Club and AIGA.

Book preview

Conclusion

PREFACE

AS I FIRST struggled to write Inside Paragraphs nearly a decade ago, I had an unwelcome epiphany. I realized that I didn’t want to write a book about typography. What I actually wanted was to draw a comic book about typography.

I wasn’t sure if the idea would work, but since drawing is, and was, how I make my living, I figured I could at least give it a try. I quickly sketched what it might look like.

Those sketches were a turning point. I stopped being trapped by the typography book I thought I should write and began working on the one I could. Inside Paragraphs is not a comic book but it is a very visual book, the result of lots of scribbling and scrawling on big sheets of newsprint.

The diagrams illustrate the text, and the text explains the diagrams. That might seem redundant, but as a teacher I’ve found the more ways you can explain something, the better your students will understand it. The circular process of writing and drawing Inside Paragraphs also helped to break down complicated concepts into smaller and simpler pieces.

Basic awareness of typography is valuable for every reader. It can enhance their enjoyment of a well-set document. It can help them recognize when something is deliberately made difficult to decipher, like the terms and conditions of a credit card application or a social media company’s privacy policy. We make important decisions every day based on things we read.

The book’s emphasis on the fundamentals of typography means it has remained relevant despite changes in software and technology. Since it was first published in English, Inside Paragraphs has been translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Persian, and traditional Chinese. This is a testament to the Latin alphabet’s global reach. It is also thanks to the place where much of the content was developed.

I see my classroom at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) as a laboratory for explaining and refining my ideas about typography. The students and faculty come from all over the world. They bring with them their experiences in multiple languages and writing systems. I’m grateful for how this diversity shaped this book and continues to shape my professional practice.

In addition to publishing the first edition, Font Bureau provided all that paper, coffee, and room for pacing while I made it. Thanks to David and Sam Berlow for their support and confidence in me. I know they will be happy this second edition will reach an even larger audience.

Thanks also to Matthew Carter for reading a very early draft and to Krzysztof Lenk for encouragement.

Finally, I’m happy to correct an omission from the first edition. I didn’t give enough credit to its editor, Anna Galloway Highsmith. Not only did Anna provide support and insight during the book’s long development process, she picked apart and improved every sentence. She made my writing make sense. This book could not have been finished without her.

— Cyrus Highsmith, December 16, 2019,

Providence, Rhode Island

INTRODUCTION

WE LIVE in a typographic wonderland. Typographers have more typefaces to choose from than ever before, and computers make setting type easier than