Shadow Type: Classic Three-Dimensional Lettering

Graphic artists await with bated breath any new book by Dr. Heller and Ms. Fili... Their books are just exquisitely, knowledgeably compiled worlds of eye candy, vivid history and inspiration.SHADOW TYPE: CLASSIC THREE-DIMENSIONAL LETTERING is another fabulous gem from these creative people: It is a lavishly illustrated compendium of a kind of treatment given to lettering and type, in the scope of this book, from the Victorian age, through Art Deco/Style Moderne, through Streamline; roughly the period of 1890---1955.Letterforms are given a bold, three-dimensional quality as if they have been extruded into blocky forms-- the sides of these letters given a realistic shading/modeling--- then shadowed dramatically as if raked from some unseen oblique light source.Nowadays, 3D softwares can readily create these kinds of letter treatments, but this book chronicles a time when this 3D modeling was done entirely as an illusion created by hand.As Heller/Fili often do in their books celebrating the best of 20thc letter and poster and ad treatments, SHADOW TYPE is chaptered by how different nations employed the style in their own idiosyncratic way: American, Italian, French, German, British, then by other countries.Americans my age-- I am 50--- will almost certainly recognize this kind of shadowed 3D lettering from the opening and closing titles of Hollywood movies of the 20thc, most prevalently during the 1930's and 1940's; something about the long dramatic shadows of this treatment is especially well-suited to the Film Noir genre.SHADOW TYPE is a cornucopia of inspiration for modern graphic artists, designers, illustrators and signpainters...(Restaurateurs and menu designers, too) and for lovers of Art Deco, Midcentury and Streamline design.As is often the case with the fine books of Heller & Fili, the book contains a concise, informed explanatory/historical text... followed by wall-to-wall, full-color illustrations. Their books are just all-eyecandy-all-the-time. Such a joy to peruse. It is apparent that the authentic period samples for this book have been painstakingly color corrected, so their printed versions included here are razor sharp, showing the saturated, wonderful vintage colors exactly as they appeared when new. The paper stock is rewardingly heavy, with a semigloss coating, showing off the designs as the treasures that they are.Heller & Fili also designed the book with "full bleed" on the picture pages; no white borders intrude upon the vivid closeups of these styles; The authors want the reader to be swimming in beauty, not coldly appraising these styles intellectually.We tend to think that "everything has improved" in modern times, with modern technologies and sensibilities; yet the wonderful, smart, stylish, hand-rendered examples presented in this book show that modern designers could do very well to study the disciplines of the past... starting with the books of Heller & Fili.Highly recommended.

I am so pleased to have purchased this book. It is full of page after page of inspiring work. It's like a google image search for vintage ephemera, printed and bound - only you get 100% accuracy in your search results! The cover makes it seem like it's all going to be a singular era of shadow type, but inside covers many eras and styles that make use of this. I actually had never noticed so much shadow type in the vintage graphics that i love until I saw many of those examples in this book - like the ubiquitous french credit receipt. If you are inspired by a blast of visual examples (instead of instruction or scientific/detailed histories) you will love this 1-1/2" tome.

A beautiful book. I should have gotten the hard copy, as the spine is very tight on the paperback and some of the visual is cut off in the center of the book. To be clear, this isn't a how-to-letter book, but a collection of stunning hand lettered pieces. So inspiring, and I've turned to it again and again when starting a new piece. I made the piece in the photo by referencing an alphabet in the book. -Made By Marzipan, letterist

This is not an instructional book! It includes a beautiful and complete compilation of different works, styles, media, time periods and authors (very well cited) that are inspiring for anyone who is dedicated to the design of lettering and calligraphy pieces.

Beautiful reference material. The paper quality is thick and the prints are easily legible due to their large format on the pages. I've been collecting images of this subject matter for years online, but I've never found such a large variety in (especially in this quality) in a single place. This is a must-have for designers who draw inspiration from the past.

beautiful reference book for shadow and 3d type. a lot of jems in the book

It is a jam packed book! once again steven heller out did it again! great book and i am glad to have it in my library

My granddaughter loves this, she is doing all kind of lettering. Her friends want to know how she does that.

A treat for type fans with page after page of three-dimensional lettering. This is the real thing too, not the tacky cheap offset by a few points stuff that any pc can do. The contents come from the US, Italy, France, Germany and Britain as actual printed samples or type book pages.Nicely Heller and Fili have extended their selection beyond printed matter by including lettering from shop fronts, packaging and movie credits. Actually this last selection could well be another book for Heller: Hollywood credit types. Three-dimensional type was very popular for titles and credits from the thirties to the fifties. The book has thirty-six examples, unfortunately only over three spreads, which make them slightly too small to appreciate the beauty of this type style.Each page shows type that is worth studying. On page sixty-five a 1938 advertisement for Mitten's Display Lettering, a stick-on three dimensional type for exhibition stands, is cleverly revealed by lighting the letters at a low angle and creating a black shadow. Page forty-seven shows a 1910 Fulton Printing Outfit for children and produced by an outfit that had a hazy awareness of letter frequency: it only has five E's but five Q's, X's and three Z's. Page 237 has a stunning Art Deco book cover with shapes and lettering in 3D. The British chapter shows Stevenson Blake's unusual Shadow Sans, a type which is just a thick shadow, turn over the page and it shows it as coloured type with the thick black shadow working beautifully.The book is well produced using a good matt art paper. All the graphics bleed which nicely creates a sort of type specimen book look. If you are interested in printed ephemera featuring type and shadow styles in particular this is your book.

This is one of the best produced books I've ever bought! Bought it for my other half who is a sign artist and he loves it. The photography is of the highest quality and I'm sure anyone who is in to design would appreciate it. Paper quality and printing are excellent too. A brilliant buy!

happy

A useful addition to the signwriters reference volumes.

great book, great seller

Rico em referencias de varias épocas!! vc se inspira da capa ate a contra capa

Como fan de Louise Fili puedo decir que es un excelente compendio tipográfico. Un obligado para todos los interesados en lettering.

Good and useful little book but not as good and useful as I'd hoped but I'd still buy it again.

Ich habe mir von diesem Buch leider zu viel versprochen. Ich habe mit mehr Anleitungen zum Shadow Typer gerechnet. Leider sind nur sehr wenige Arbeitshilfen darin, vorrangig findet man Photos von alten Werbeplakaten aus vielen Ländern. Für mich ist dieses Buch das Geld nicht wert. Ein pure Enttäuschung, leider.