Timothy Samara > Quotes

“I have little interest in illustration, which lacks a kind of transcendental quality. It is too literal. I find typography more straightforward, conceptual, and appealing, with its strict geometric vocabulary. There is a bridge between typographic design and fine art, especially since typography possesses a complex subtlety. The idea, the method, and the honesty in expression are central to a designer who works with type.”
― Timothy Samara, Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design

“Simplicity, clarity, complexity, and ambiguity are not mutually exclusive states in language; the sensitive typographer is one who can manifest these states in the right mix by controlling the elements at his or her disposal.”
― Timothy Samara

“Some time around 1932, Adolf Loos, the noted Viennese architect, said, “There is a great difference between an urn and a chamber pot, and in this difference there is leeway for culture.”
― Timothy Samara, Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual

“A grid is successfully implemented only if a designer rises above the uniformity implied by its structure and uses it to create a dynamic visual experience that sustains interest page after page, screen after screen. The greatst danger in using a grid is to succumb to its regularity.”
― Timothy Samara, Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop