Compendia of confusion

Some DTP users want typographic tuition not only to improve design skills but also to help them deal with 'clients' who now want to control layout and design decisions. Other users may lack motivation to study because they feel they can achieve results that satisfy themselves and their 'clients' without typographic knowledge. Selected type tutorial books are examined and judged to ignore the motivated learner's particular need for methods of working that synthesize the elements of typography with the tasks they have to perform. For other potential learners, they do not provide the missing motivation. Two recent tutorial books use, respectively, a graphically motivating approach and a synthetic, systematic approach. The latter is judged not only to meet motivated learners' needs but also to provide the elements of an approach through which 'clients', including writers, could begin to realise DTP'S potential for integrating the composition of text and its display on the page.