Back my Web Typography book

I’ve wanted to write a book on Web Typography for over ten years, and now it’s finally going to happen. I hope. I’m funding the book through Kickstarter, so please back my campaign if you want to see it get off the ground.

Every day millions and millions of people look at text on the web. We’re reading email, newspapers, magazines, blog posts, reviews, reports, gossip, weather forecasts, bank statements, social network updates, you name it. So why shouldn’t we strive to make those reading experiences as good as possible?

With your help, I want to enable designers, developers, authors, publishers, everyone, to create websites with engaging, appropriate, distinctive, expressive, readable typography, and make our world that little bit happier.

In 2005 I launched webtypography.net. The aim of that website was – and is – to show how the guidelines in Robert Bringhurst’s Elements of Typographic Style could be applied to the web. The prevailing school of thought was that the web as a medium was simply not capable of supporting good typography. People were wrong then and they are certainly wrong to think that now – technology has moved on tremendously and we’re now in really exciting times when it comes to typography on the web.

My aspiration is for my book to achieve the same status among web designers as Bringhurst’s does among print designers. It’s an admittedly grandiose ambition, but I’ve been advocating better web typography in articles and presentations for a decade now, so I want to aim high.

This will be a practical book. I want it to sit on people’s desks for reference. It will also be a really good read. If you want to read it cover to cover, you could do, and you’d enjoy it. It will be beautiful. Immaculately typeset – obviously – but also elegantly illustrated. And as well the physical book, there will be ebooks for convenience.

Producing any book takes time and money for things professional editing, typesetting and of course print runs. That’s why I’ve created this Kickstarter campaign, and why I’m asking for your help. I hope to have the book released in time for this year’s Ampersand conference.

You can pledge a donation for as little as a one pound and if the campaign reaches its target, anyone pledging five pounds or more will receive a lovely letterpressed goodie or a copy of the book or both. There’s even a pledge amount which will see me travelling anywhere in the world to give a one hour web typography talk tailored to your needs!

If you’d like this book to become a reality please do tell your friends and colleagues.