Introduction to Typography and Lettering Saturday and Sunday, February 15-16, 9am-1pm. We interviewed the instructor for this course, Chae Ho Lee about Typography and the class content.
Why is typography so important?
Learning more about the history of typography, how to classify typefaces and working with type is essential for any designer or individual interested in communicating with letters and words. Without a fundamental understanding of typography an individual limits the type of projects they can work on and more importantly the creative potential of their work.
How would someone benefit from learning typography?
Typography and Lettering is all around us and more and more people outside of design practice are interested in how to work with type beyond a stack of choices available on the menu of a word processing program. Typography and Lettering are forms of visual communication that have endless applications and forms of expression.
In general, how does lettering differ from typography?
Lettering is the art of drawing letters, often for a single use and purpose as opposed to using previously designed letters as components, as with typography. Typography focuses on the design or selection of letterforms to be organized into words and sentences and printed or displayed electronically. Lettering can be hand-drawn, using different pens, markers, brushes, graphite and even chalk. This course will focus mainly on the use of programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to teach students how to create lettering digitally with realistic outcomes.
What kinds of exercises and learning experiences can someone expect from the class? Will they create a final product?
Someone taking the class will gain a lot more knowledge about the history of writing and typography as well as an understanding of the nomenclature of type and general rules and guidelines professional designers use in working with typography. Students will ultimately produce an Initial letterform then move on to creating words and phrases emulating classical scripts, vintage lettering, shadow and 3D effects.
Is there anything else you feel is relevant for someone considering taking the class?
This course will not focus on typographic layout or composition but on giving students a solid foundation in the history, nomenclature, rules and the original and expressive potential of letterforms.