Non-Designer’s Type Book, The, Second Edition

Grunge or Distressed Type

With the advent of the Macintosh computers and desktop publishing, type design—for the first time on earth—was put into the hands of the masses. Even more important, I believe, is that a mass interest in type was sparked—many people who never noticed typefaces before were suddenly wondering about the fonts on billboards and bread wrappers. With the power to create personal typefaces and to manipulate their layout on the screen, all the rules of traditional design and typography can be demolished. Who knows where this typographic anarchy will lead, but it is certainly fun and exciting to watch (and to use!).

Fringe typefaces (also variously called distressed, grunge, garage, deconstructive, edge, lawless, or just plain ...