Love expressive, highly detailed and eye-grabbing headlines, titles, and editorial treatments? Here’s your chance to make a typographic one-of-a-kind statement all your own. There’s nothing better than a well made (display) type for the job.

During this 10-week-course you’ll learn how to turn any idea into a coherent design system. Starting from manual sketches, then iterating your ideas until they form the basis of a solid typeface, and ultimately digitizing your drawings in a professional font editor. Depending on your experience and your time commitment, students can develop a whole beautiful digital font with U&lc, figures, punctuation and maybe more!

Homework will be given each week to advance your project. Class participation is encouraged to ensure your project is progressing. Additional feedback will be provided via Slack outside of the class.

What you’ll learn to do:

• Establish an efficient and productive typeface design workflow
• Learn basics of type design
• Learn to sketch and iterate
• Learn how to design and space type
• Learn how to plan a type family
• Learn how to design a basic Latin character set
• Learn how to use digital font drawing software
• Learn to draw for interpolation and produce variable fonts
• Learn how to proof and test typeface
• Develop your eye to critically observe color, spacing, rhythm and contrast

Whether you’re a graphic designer looking to take your logos to the next level, a budding type designer ready for a challenge or a type enthusiast who’d like to gain ground, this course will take you on an exciting discovery of making an original display typeface. The level of participants’ skills can range from beginners in drawing digitally to those with a lot of experience in use of digital drawing tools. In this class we’ll make sure everyone finds a fun and a quality approach to the world of display typeface design, as long as you’re have the desire to learn and to challenge yourself.

Required materials:

• Mac computer (laptop or desktop)
• Reliable Internet connection
• A free Zoom account
• A free Slack account (an invitation to a class group will be sent to each participant)
• Adobe InDesign to test the fonts
• Optional: Adobe Illustrator 2019+ to work with variable fonts (highly recommended)
• Sketching tools such as markers, pencils
• Eraser, white-out, scissors, and tape (artist tape or removable tape recommended)
• White non-bleeding sketch paper
• OPTIONAL: a tablet or iPad with drawing app like Procreate
• Robofont, a free temporary educational license will be issued to each student enrolled
• Access to a B&W laser printer for proofing (1200 dpi recommended)