Presentation of Font Combinations
What I can tell you is how it improves on the mix-n-match features of the Font Combinations iPhone app (which I give high marks on its own). Yes, the iPhone app does have more fonts, but it doesn't have as detailed a presentation.
Page layout for font combination of Formata / Palatino.
© Douglas Bonneville- With the eBook you get a chapter devoted to each of dozens of classic typefaces. The first page of a chapter pairs the typeface with itself for headlines and body text. Subsequent pages in the chapter pair it with several other faces.
- Each page shows you more than just a headline and block of text. You can see the fonts in reversed text, as drop caps, in bullet lists, in normal, bold, and italics, and in a variety of sizes.
- When you reach page 363 you'll find that the last few typefaces are loners. These are popular typefaces that simply don't play as nice with others (which doesn't mean they are bad typefaces). Each page shows the same layout as the paired typefaces but with only a single typeface.
eBook Features
Another extra you get in the eBook is a copy of "29 principles for making great font combinations."
One of the additions to the book that I'd like to see would be a page at the end of each chapter that listed (and perhaps displayed a short sample of) alternatives / lookalikes for each of the main classic fonts presented in the book. Not an exhaustive list, but a few of the best matches for a font to give designers a few more options without adding dozens of more pages of font combinations to the book (which would be nice too).
Bottom Line
Minion at 6400% zoom.
© Douglas BonnevilleIf you want to get out of the rut of using the same font combinations over and over; If you want to save time and frustration when trying to find a good pair of fonts for a project; If you are interested in typography and want to get up close and personal with some classic fonts; The Big Book of Font Combinations may be just the kind of tool you need.
