A Serious Guide to Irreverent Type Design, by James Edmondson. From the cult favorite typography studio and foundry OH no Type Co. comes this richly illustrated and endlessly entertaining handbook featuring type specimens, process sketches, and instructions for creating typefaces.
Where to Buy
The purpose of this book is to make type design fun. As author and OH no founder James Edmondson explains about type, “For me, it’s been a refuge, an infinite playground where I’m constantly excited to explore something new. It’s a place where I can exercise my need for control in a productive way.”
OH no Type Co.'s wildly imaginative fonts—including Beastly, Casserole, Hobeaux, Ohno Fatface, Polymath, Regrets, and Vulf—lend an exuberant, psychedelic flair to packaging, editorial design, gig posters, and apparel, earning the company cult-like status in the graphic design community. Edmondson shares his knowledge and passion for type design with his signature humor, candor, and warmth beloved by his many students and followers.
Speaking & Workshops
If you'd like to book James to speak about his... book, please send an email to info@ohnotype.co.
Praise for The Ohno Book
You’re holding a gold mine of type magic. These pages ooze electric letterforms, casting a spell on your eyes, brain, and hands—unlocking shapes you never knew were in you. That’s the power of James Edmondson and his approach to type. His work hypnotizes, inspires, and dares you to make letters that are bolder, funkier, and flat-out better.”
—Erik Marinovich
Type Designer, Nuform
The Ohno Book is a raw, honest, and wildly entertaining look at type design through the eyes of one of the field’s most inventive artists,James Edmondson. Sure, he covers foundational concepts, software hacks, and insider jargon, but more important, he peels back the layers of his creative process. With an emphasis on curiosity, community, and spacing (seriously, it’s everything), James reveals what truly shapes great type. Whether you’re just dipping your toes into font making or you’re already a grizzled vet, this is the design book you didn’t know you needed!”
—Ken Barber
Letterer & Type Designer, Type & Lettering
It’s difficult to express how big of an impact James has had on the world of type design—he got everyone excited to get a little weird. As you page through this incredible book, you’ll start seeing his influence everywhere—in the branding of your favorite shops, on the labels of the coolest products, on tees and tats and everything in between.”
—Jessica Hische
Lettering Artist
The best typefaces are like handmade tools—made to serve a purpose but always retaining the beautifully imperfect heart and soul of the human who made them. James’s fonts do that. And so does this book.”
—Stephen Coles
Curator & Editor, Letterform Archive
James has a way of talking about fonts that resonates with you, inspires you, and makes you see that type design, besides everything else, is also a lot of fun.”
—Maria Doreuli
type designer, Contrast Foundry