2. Comment below answering this question: “What is your favorite font and why?”

And that’s it! You have three chances to win, so be sure to invite your friends to enter. The deadline to enter is TODAY Friday, November 6th. Find out more about the book and why typography is so important from the author herself ahead.

What inspired you to write the book?

Nikki: I never set out to write a book; actually it never even crossed my mind as something I would do. I started my blog four-and-a-half years ago as a way to keep my love of typography alive as I work as an in-house designer with a limited color palette (15 colors) and typefaces (two!). I find my job as the Creative Studio Manager at DHG to be incredibly challenging and rewarding, but I needed that creative outlet.

I set a goal for myself that I’d post five days a week comparing pictures side by side from different parts of the world. It was never about how many hits my site got or what comments came in, it was done out of pure joy.

After about a year of posting, my blog started getting a following and traction within the design community. I started speaking to AIGA chapters with my talk How Culture Affects Typography. These talks were catered to each city I visited. I asked local creatives to send me pictures of their typographic landscape that made their city unique and send them to me one month prior to my talk. I used these pictures to create a custom driven presentation.

To date, I have spoken to 19 AIGA chapters across the country. AIGA has afforded me a wonderful platform to share my passion for typography. These talks led to me speaking at the How Design Live conference which put me in front of a much bigger audience. The talk was well attended and received so HOW Books approached me about writing a book. It seemed like the logical next step and was without a doubt the hardest thing I have ever done.

Why is typography so important to you?

Nikki: For me, typography has a way of evoking a feeling, a sense of place and a sense of belonging based on the style and placement of the letterforms. It is very easy to become immune to our typographic landscape which is why traveling is so enjoyable.

When we travel, we are dropped into a new environment and all of our senses are heightened. We become keenly aware of the sights and sounds that make a place unique. Typography plays a vital role in this discovery process. The goal with my talks, my blog and my book is to bring that sense of awareness to people’s day to day life and look at their city through the eyes of a visitor.

I get a lot of joy when I hear someone say, “I drive past that sign everyday but never really saw it!” or “I had no idea the history behind that sign!” or, my personal favorite, “The typography on that manhole cover IS really beautiful!” There are always new things to discover no matter where you are.

Massimo Vignelli sums it up perfectly for me: “We think typography’s black and white; typography’s really white, you know, it’s not even black. It is the space between the blacks that really makes it. In a sense, it’s like music; it’s not the notes, it’s the space you put between the notes that makes the music.”

You can pick up Nikki’s book online at My Design Shop for $24.

Excerpted from “Culture + Typography: How Culture Affects Typography” Copyright © 2015 by Nikki Villagomez and published by F+W/HOW Books. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. Photos courtesy of Nikki Villagomez.