Foundations of Display Type Design 2023 ↗

Participants will do research to develop their own design brief, practice rigorously through weekly drawing exercises, and hone their personal discipline and craftsmanship. This class will cover the basics of drawing letterforms by hand and digitally using Bézier curves in order to design coherent systems and develop your own typographic language.

• Week 0:
  Students will be given a very short assignment in preparation for our first class.

• Week 1: Feb. 1 | Introduction to Display Type Design
  Class introductions
  Community agreement
  Syllabus overview
  Introduction to Display Type
  Warm up drawing exercise
  Design brief overview
  Class presentations & discussion

• Week 2: Feb. 8 | Theory of Writing: Translation & Expansion Models
  Review of typographic principles
  Introduction to the theory of writing and contrast models
  Introduction to calligraphy and spacing
  Calligraphy practice
  Class presentations & discussion

• Week 3: Feb. 15 | Typographic Variables and Parametric Type Design
  Review of typographic proportions
  Overview of typographic variables and parametric type design
  Introduction to the type design space
  Overview of sketching and lettering techniques
  TypeCooker exercise
  Class presentations & discussion

• Week 4: Feb. 22 | Form & Counterform
  Learning how to observe and analyze calligraphy and type
  Review of forms, counterforms, color, rhythm, and spacing
  Class presentations & discussion

• Week 5: Mar. 1 | Basic Drafting & Proofing Techniques
  Overview of basic drawing techniques in Glyphs App
  Introduction to the type proof and proofing
  Class presentations & discussion

• Week 6: Mar. 8 | Advanced Drafting & Proofing Techniques
  Overview of advanced drawing techniques in Glyphs App
  Developing a custom type proof
  Class presentations & discussion

• Week 7: Mar. 15 | Introduction to OpenType Features & Basic Language Support
  Overview of OpenType features in Glyphs App
  Introduction to language support
  Class presentations & discussion

• Week 8: Mar. 22 | Introduction to Multiple Masters, Interpolation, and Variable Fonts
  Overview of Variable Fonts
  Overview of Multiple Masters
  Basics of interpolation
  Class presentations & discussion

• Week 9: Mar. 29 | Type Critiques with Special Guests
  Class presentations & discussion
  Q&A with guest critics

• Week 10: Apr. 5 | Contemporary Type Design Reflections
  What’s Next?
  Final class presentations & discussion