The Typographic Medium

“Kate Brideau's expertly researched book The Typographic Medium deals extensively with typography as a graphic medium in legal (intellectual property), visual (shape and style), and cultural (a range of languages and scripts) realms. The hand-drawn images are breathtaking in their capacity to illuminate subtle points of scholarship. What a rare treat to see typography treated with such erudition and insight.”

Johanna Drucker, Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

“How I've yearned for a book like Kate Brideau's The Typographic Medium. Type—virtually the exclusive province of book historians, print historians, type historians, designers, and calligraphers for so long—is at last being interrogated as medium. No one who works on type can afford not to read this book.”

Thomas Mullaney, Professor of Chinese History, Stanford University; author of The Chinese Typewriter

“If the primary requirement of typefaces is to be functional, why are there so many of them? Brideau shatters the 'crystal goblet' theory of type with insight, originality, and verve.”

Rick Poynor, Professor of Design and Visual Culture, University of Reading, UK; author of No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism

“Kate Brideau looks at letterforms as living things, fragments of form that engage memory and meaning through geometry, gesture, and intention. This book is a welcome contribution to typographic scholarship.”

Jessica Helfand, Design Observer

“A multifaceted take on typography, The Typographic Medium opened my eyes to new dimensions of a subject I thought I already understood. Integrating philosophical erudition with practical knowledge, Brideau has sketched out a compelling handbook toward the field's polymorphic futures.”

Prem Krishnamurthy, designer and curator