The editor of a new book, published by Taschen, selects six of her favourite examples from her research and talks us through the history of these cryptic and beguiling designs.

In the pursuit of pixel-perfect typography, have we lost the origins of its artistry in place of efficiency? We talk to contemporary typographers as well as stone letterers who are keeping the origins of the discipline alive, asking what is lost and gained in the movement from physical to digital.