About this course: Typography is the art of manipulating the visual form of language to enrich and control its meaning. It’s an essential area of skill and knowledge for graphic designers. Typography predates modern graphic design by around 500 years; it is rich in rules, conventions, and esoteric terminology—but it remains an exciting space for invention and expression. In this rigorous introductory course, we will study, name, and measure the characteristics of letterforms. We’ll consider the pragmatic concerns involved in selecting and combining type. We’ll peek into the rich historical, cultural, and aesthetic histories of familiar typefaces. We’ll discuss time-tested conventions and best practices in setting type, as governed by principles of hierarchy and spatial organization. And we’ll explore the expressive, meaning-making potential of type. Informative lectures will be complemented by a series of three peer-assessed assignments, culminating in an opportunity to design a full-scale typographic poster. Please note that this is not a software course; a basic working knowledge of Adobe InDesign or other page layout software will be assumed. You will need access to a computer and page layout software, such as InDesign, to complete the assignments.
Taught by: Anther Kiley, Faculty, Program in Graphic Design
School of Art
| Basic Info | Course 2 of 5 in the Graphic Design Specialization |
| Commitment | 4 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
- Video: Course Welcome
- Reading: About this Course
- Reading: About the Assignments
- Reading: Course Tools
- Reading: Additional Resources
- Video: Font versus Typeface
- Reading: Reviewing key terms
- Practice Quiz: Type Terms
- Video: Stroke and Proportion
- Video: Type Anatomy
- Video: Measuring Type
- Video: Choosing a Typeface
- Video: Typefaces and their Stories
- Video: Bembo: Humanist Letters
- Video: Didot: Enlightened Refinement
- Video: Clarendon: Type for the Masses
- Video: Futura: the Typographic Avant-Garde
- Video: Helvetica: International Modern
- Video: Scala Sans: Typographic Remix
- Video: Working with Type
- Video: Typographic Space
- Video: Page Space
- Video: The Grid
- Video: Creating Hierarchy
- Video: Typographic Conventions
- Video: Making Meaningful Type
- Video: Typesetting with Expression
- Video: Beyond Typesetting
- Video: The Typographic Poster
- Reading: Course Credits
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| Audit | Purchase Course | |
|---|---|---|
| Access to course materials | Available | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Not available | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Not available | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Not available | Available |
It was nice to work with type and our own words. It felt like a more "concrete" change from the first course in this specialization where we only worked with shapes and lines. It would have been nice to have slightly more involved projects. It instead felt like we were packaging and repackaging the same copy for a month. I know that the intent was for us to focus on layout and placement, but after a while it felt state to be moving around the same content.
As a complete beginner to typography, I found this course to be exactly what I needed to get competently acquainted with the subject.
Enjoyable and easy to follow, the course provides a fully comprehensive education from the basics all the way to the essential typographic conventions. My favourite part was learning about the the history and evolution of type, as the knowledge informs the progression up to what we know today as typography.
Tip: It's best to work on the assignments using InDesign, as the program allows full control of the type.
Overall an excellent course that I would highly recommend.
Very interesting course, I liked it so much and enjoyed making the assignments.
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A must take course for Graphic Designing learners. Faculty was very helping and lectures & assignments are not too difficult for the ones having some background knowledge.