Alphabet in Motion: How Letters Get Their Shape

Author: Kelli Anderson

Format: Hardcover | 144 pages

Dimensions: 24.00 × 3.99 × 30.00 cm

Publication date: 11 February 2014

Complete with an interactive cover, 17 pop-ups, and hands-on features on every spread, Alphabet in Motion offers a one-of-a-kind, immersive journey through the history of typography and the shapes of letters.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many different kinds of lettering? Launch any word processor, email program, or design tool and you're instantly faced with an overwhelming menu of type options. Serif or sans serif? Headline or body text? Traditional or modern? Formal or relaxed?

Through 17 striking interactive pop-ups, this alphabet pop-up book both describes and shows the technologies and ideas that have influenced letterforms over the centuries. Readers discover 1960s psychedelic lettering by shining light through a phototypesetting pop-up, see how screens have affected letter design by switching anti-aliasing on and off, and explore the look of modular type by rearranging the puzzle-like pieces of Josef Albers' Kombinations-Schrift.

The history of type tends to be technical and is always visual, which makes it hard to convey fully through words or diagrams alone. The book's interactive elements give curious, non-specialist readers a tactile way to understand how typography has evolved over time, and how lettering can express a viewpoint or philosophy. A 128-page accompanying section offers an essay that places each pop-up in its wider context. Alphabet in Motion engages the reader's hands, eyes, and mind with the stories behind the type we encounter at home, on our devices, and in the streets. Look closely, and you'll find the history of civilization, from the Bronze Age to the digital era, reflected in the small world of type.

Kelli Anderson is a graphic designer, paper engineer, teacher, and writer who uses clever design to reveal the surprising capabilities of ordinary objects. Her earlier books include This Book Is a Camera (MoMA, 2015), which turns into a functioning camera, and This Book Is a Planetarium (Chronicle, 2017), which contains working paper devices, including a planetarium, and has sold over 100,000 copies.