310 November 2023
Workshop

Join Valerio Monopoli (Morula Type, Pangram Pangram) in a workshop for two days during the International Conference in November:

‘The latest advancements in technology, namely the diffusion and adoption of AI-based tools, are reshaping our understanding of design and creativity altogether: in this rapidly-evolving context, where the creative effort gradually loses its relevance, critical approaches once neglected are becoming dominant again and creative industries start favouring directive roles over executive ones. Although type design seems to have resisted automation better than most domains so far, the universal connotation of this evolution suggests it will soon be impacted as well.’

Workshop: Chat GPType with Pangram Pangram

Day 1: Friday 3. November (18:00-22:00 UK Time)
Day 2: Friday 10. November (18:00-22:00 UK Time)

In this course, we will try to understand how to react to this paradigm shift by developing crucial competences through an exercise of textual description akin to the one required to direct an AI. Instead of an AI though, this time the visual interpreter of the prompts will be a human: the participant. Through this practice, we aim to unlock new creative patterns, rooted in intentionality and fuelled by human ingenuity.

Outcome: a small alphabet (10-52 characters) that could serve as a starting point for a professional, marketable typeface.

Workshop Phases:

1. Prompt Generation

You will be asked to generate a series of prompts that describe formally, contextually and abstractly a typeface. One of these prompts will then be assigned to a different participant and kept secret until the last phase. In this preliminary part, we will discuss how to generate typographic identities by mixing already acquired deontological glossary and unconventional abstract descriptors.

2. Sketching and digitisation

In this phase, you will focus on creating several typographical sketches based on the prompt you were assigned. We will discuss the principles of iteration and alteration, explore the concept of “typographic continuum”, and finally identify promising formal features in one of the proposed sketches, which you will start digitising.

3. Critique

On the last day of our workshop, we will reveal the prompts and show the outputs they led to. This exercise of collective critique will help you determine whether your design matched the expectations of the prompt creator and / or the ones of your peers. You will be asked to motivate your creative choices, carefully addressing your methodology and references.

Where?

Online and live

For Whom?

Workshops are open to students, professionals and inquisitive creative minds of all ages and stages.

How Much?

GBP 94.00

Language

English

Prerequisites

Mac with internet connection and Glyphs 3 preinstalled, and sketching tools.