A 10% discount is available to in-person Typographics conference ticket holders.

Empirical research in typography has highly important applications, such as effective road signs, sensitive information on medical and food packaging, reading material for the visually impaired, and many more. It also can highly benefit brand design, as type should convey values and qualities not different than other elements of an identity, such as photography or color. But how does empirical research in typography work? Let’s find out through a small-scale collective experiment. We will sketch experimental letterforms and discuss their effectiveness in conveying specific expressive qualities (eg: how ‘loud’ can a font look?), all through the tools and techniques of the experimental method, which is the most functional method we have to elaborate knowledge.

We will sketch letterforms to convey specific expressive qualities, then we will break down the causes of the perceived qualities. We will evaluate the impact of individual variables on the desired outcome and reiterate the designs in light of our findings. We will alternate hands-on experimentation, lectures on the experimental method applied to typography and group discussions.
Students will gain a basic understanding of how empirical research in typography is done and learn new tools and techniques to evaluate type qualities (other than gut).

Learning how to evaluate type qualities through the experimental method will help you back your design proposals with empirical findings, make the most out of clients/users’ feedback and ultimately produce more reliable designs.

This workshop is intended for students, recent grads and working professionals that want to learn how to make informed decisions when drawing type. It is ideal for people that have a basic knowledge of type design and/or lettering.