Type Tells Tales

Heller (former art director of the New York Times) and Anderson (former creative director at SpotCo, an ad agency known for poster designs for Broadway plays) explore the endless opportunities of graphic design in this rich study of typography. The book’s 332 images showcase experimental designs in which type and letters “are active participants in the composition” of written stories. Classics works, such as Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” take on a new life in the hands of designer Hermes Mazali, who illustrated a version of the story using hand-drawn lettering inspired by the human anatomy. Artist Herman Inclusus mimics the Cyrillic letter forms of medieval manuscripts for the text in his original graphic novel Dismal Incantation. The text almost disappears entirely in one of Sam Winston’s compositions, which plays with the text of classic fairy tales. There are numerous examples from children’s books with work from the venerable Maira Kalman and Milton Glaser. This beautiful book is sure to strike a chord with bibliophiles and art lovers alike. Color photos. (May)