What the Font?! - A Manga Guide to Western Typeface

by Kuniichi Ashiya

Overview

A unique and engaging tool for learning about design using anthropomorphized Western fonts! When the designer in a small production company disappears, Marusu is forced to take over the job of creating logos. Unfortunately, Marusu is a sales rep who doesn’t know the first thing about fonts. Luckily, Helvetica, the personification of that font, appears to guide Marusu into the world of typeface and design. Learn about typography in this fun manga story with anthropomorphic fonts as your guide!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645056393
Publisher:	Seven Seas Entertainment
Publication date:	11/17/2020
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	1,019,824
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	10 - 17 Years

About the Author

Kuniichi Ashiya is a Japanese manga creator best known for What the Font?! – A Manga Guide to Western Typeface. Masayuki Yamamoto is a Japanese design expert best known for What the Font?! – A Manga Guide to Western Typeface.

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/16/2020

Ashiya delightfully anthropomorphizes typefaces in a manga that’s equal parts magical-realist narrative and desktop reference guide for typographic designers. Amateur designer Marusu travels through the imaginary world of personified typefaces, guided in part by Helvetica, the “highly versatile king of typefaces” (and in which most of the reference material that accompanies each page’s strip is set). As Marusu delves deeper into the world of font, she meets typefaces whose character designs incorporate their real functionality and histories—Arial is shy about being born as a Helvetica knockoff, Times New Roman’s represented as a college lecturer, and Caslon wears her hair thicker on one side to represent the differing widths of her strokes. The manga takes its influence from Himaruya’s Hetalia series (though amusingly the Japanese original was published as Tonari no Helvetica or “My Neighbor Helvetica,” a sly Miyazaki reference). Ashiya’s nerdy, pun-filled sense of humor is a joy and a pleasant counterpoint to the well-sourced reference material. This one’s a no-brainer for lighthearted manga fans and design and publishing professionals alike. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Ashiya delightfully anthropomorphizes typefaces in a manga that’s equal parts magical-realist narrative and desktop reference guide for typographic designers... This one’s a no-brainer for lighthearted manga fans and design and publishing professionals alike.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher