December 2013 Notable Book Review - Shadow Type

Steven Heller

Louise Fili

Shadow Type

By Steven Heller and Louise Fili
Princeton Architectural Press (October 2013)
Buy the book

Reviewer: Book Board member Ellen Lupton (Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; Maryland Institute College of Art)

Shadow Type, by Steven Heller and Louise Fili, 2013 (Princeton Architectural Press)

Preserved and repackaged for immediate enjoyment, this compendium of dimensional lettering is richer than a typographic fruit cake. Studded with dense chunks of visual history, Shadow Type presents examples from the early nineteenth century through the 1950s. Shadows offer a special kind of embellishment. They skirt the edges of dominant letter structures, employing bevels, highlights, side panels, and cast shadows to emphasize and underscore the primary letterform. Functioning as more than mere distraction, shadows not only give letters a decorative identity but can actually enhance their legibility and visibility. As a genre of ornamental lettering, shadow type evolved partly from the needs of sign painters. Shadows allow text to stand out against complex backgrounds—including glass—a fact that proved equally useful for mixing type with photographs and illustrations. As structural ornament, shadow letters have a natural affinity for architecture, and yet their purpose is fundamentally illusionistic. Steven Heller and Louise Fili call these shadowed letters “three-dimensional,” yet their magic lies in carving light and depth out of flat surfaces.

From Shadow Type by Steven Heller and Louise Fili, courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press

From Shadow Type by Steven Heller and Louise Fili, courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press

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