GRPH 223 / Typography
This studio course will introduce students to the practice, history, and theory of typography. Through design research, independent project work, and collaborative exercises; students will produce typographic solutions to applied and experimental problems using typography as their primary, if not exclusive, design element.
Course work will include independent student research, sustained project work,
and critiques, emphasizing the perceptual and contextual properties of typographic design. Lectures, readings, and guided discussions will supplement project work, introducing students to the topics of letter form design, printing history, typographic classification, and textual representations.
To successfully complete this course, students will be expected to understand and emulate the principles of typographic practice that began in the early Renaissance and continue with contemporary digital design. Students will also be expected to demonstrate both leadership and collaboration skills while working with their fellow students towards the completion of project work.
{T / January 10}
Introduction / Type as Identity
Course Syllabus
Course Deliverables
Textbooks / Resources* ~
Typographic Design: Form and Communication, 5th edition,
by Rob Carter, Ben Day, Phillip B. Meggs, The Evolution of Typography
[required]
Typographic Design: Form and Communication [web site]
Typography (Graphic Design in Context), by Denise Gonzales Crisp,
William F. Temple
Thinking with Type, by Ellen Lupton [web site]
The Elements of Typographic Style, by Robert Bringhurst,
Foreword, Historical Synopsis
Adobe’s Creative Cloud Software Update~
Link to UNL Box Folder / GRPH 223 / Typography Spring 2017
*See links in syllabi for additional resources related to Typography. There you will find an extensive list of suggested readings and resources, links to design organizations, and type foundries.
Introductory Readings~
Who becomes a graphic designer?
What a graphic designer needs to know?
Write 5 questions you have from the readings. Be prepared to turn this in.
Eric Gill’s Process Book
{TH / January 12}
Review readings.
Work in groups of 3 to outline the readings and discuss the questions that you have. Present your reponse to the readings as a group. [.pdf presentation]
Exercise 01 - [On-going]
Type / Typology / Type Awareness
In class activity: Walking tour of Love Library / Special Collections / Nebraska History Museum / Children's Museum / Sheldon Art Museum to gather typographic specimens.
Read / Look at: Letter Fountain
I will leave a hard copy of this book in the 208 Lab for your review. I suggest you meet up with a class mate and spend an hour perusing and making notes. Talk about the text. It will make easier to be quizzed over it. [hint]
Gather your type specimens in a folder on BOX or in Google Drive. Have them ready to share on Tuesday. [100 minimum samples]
{T / January 17}
Classes Cancelled / Ice Storm
{TH / January 19}
Present process for Exercise 01
Review found typography / type collected. Review found typography / type collected from the walking tour and your personal hunt.
Discuss what you have gathered and prepare to organize type specimens into categories of type classification. Demonstration on how to go forward and classify your type specimens. This will be an exercise that you participate in all semester. Look at this as an opportunity to create an archive of your typography finds.
Platform: Google Collections, Pinerest, Behance, Tumblr, Google Drive??
Discuss reading: Letter Fountain
Assign Exercise 02
Drawing Type / Type Drawing Examples / Demonstration Files
Assign Readings:
Typographic Design: Form and Communication, 5th edition,
by Rob Carter, Ben Day, Phillip B. Meggs, The Evolution of Typography, pages 1–27, The Anatomy of Typography, pages 29–43
Anatomy of Type Presentation
Anatomy of Type
Letter Fountain / Names + Classifications
Anatomy of Letterforms
{T / January 24}
Present process for Exercise 02:
Discuss what you have accomplished and how to go forward.
Review creative direction and what will be turned in for Exercise 02
Discuss readings / Integrate readings into process review.
Typographic Design: Form and Communication, 5th edition,
by Rob Carter, Ben Day, Phillip B. Meggs, The Evolution of Typography, pages 1–27, The Anatomy of Typography, pages 29–43
Review
Thinking with Type
Ellen Lupton's Classification System
Read the following on Thinking with Type:
Student typography award winners
{TH / January 26}
Exercise 02 is due.
Prepare to upload your final solutions as a .pdf
to the designated box.unl folder for the exercise.
Quiz over readings and presentations.
Evolution of Typography Animated Short
Activity~!
Watch this film and then collaboratively draw a map of its contents. Outline the highlights of the film and what people, concepts and thoughts you were inspired by.
Present your map to the class for review.
“Helvetica”, the Documentary
{M / January 30}
Visiting Artist / Scholar Lecture Series
Jan. 30, 2017 5:30 pm
Susanne Meurer is an assistant professor of Early Modern European Art at the University of Western Australia in Perth. She received her PhD from the University of London and held post-doctoral fellowships at the Warburg Institute in London and the Kunsthistorisches Institut (Max-??Planck Institute) in Florence prior to her move to Australia. She is currently an Eleanor M. Garvey Fellow in Printing and Graphic Arts at Harvard’s Houghton Library.
Her research project at Harvard focuses on the intersection of printmaking and calligraphy in the work of the early sixteenth-century writer Johann Neudörffer the Elder. Susanne is currently writing a book on Neudörffer’s manuscript notes on artists and craftsmen active in Nuremberg in Dürer’s lifetime. Dating back to her work as a print cataloguer for the British Museum, Susanne also has a strong interest in the history of printmaking.
{T / January 31}
Assign Project 01
Type History + Research Presentation
Design panels that showcases your knowledge of typography and the exciting history of the development of the western alphabet. Design a timeline with information about an assigned research topic.
[Includes an Annotated Bibliography]
{TH / February 02}
Work on Project 01
Read:
Typographic Design: Form and Communication, 5th edition,
Chapter 03: Syntax and Communication
Chapter 04: Legibility
Chapter 05: The Typographic Grid
Project 01 Research Notes
Sketching Process / Sketch Template
Demonstration of setting up a grid system in InDesign
Prepare a minumum of 10 iterations for the layout of your timeline.
[10 - 11" X 17" variations of how you will populate pages with the contents
of your research]
{T/ February 07}
Process Review of the assigned 10 layouts. Receive feedback and make adjustments to the layout.
Work on Project 01
Research how to use Paragraph and Character Styles in InDesign
Demonstration~
How to package an InDesign document and transfer fonts to your laptop.
Research Contents / Updates:
21st Century / AIGA Medalists
Ed Fella, designers from "Helvetica"
Look at the Graphic Design History Text.
Locate 5 books that you will use for your research.
READ.
{TH / February 09}
Work on Project 01
Process Review
Be prepared to show how your work has evolved from Tuesday.
{T/ February 14}
Work on Project 01
{TH / February 16}
Work on Project 01
Process Review
Print 5 panels in b/w, 11" X 17" for a process pin up
We will review all 5 panels to provide feedback for overall layout and direction.
{T/ February 21}
Prepare for review of Project 01. Write statement and organize bibliography.
{TH / February 23}
Project 01 Due
Assignment / Exercise 03 / Project 02
Collect 50 examples of typographic specimens in print format. Find as many ranges in size of bodies of text as you can. Strive to collect a vast array of bodies of text that can be converted easily to black and white, represent diverse amounts of shades of grey.
Bring your analog tools with you to class to design with: Xacto, blades, straight edge, cutting mat, pencils, erasers, glue stick.
You can go ahead and flatten your samples on the Xerox machine so you have lots of examples of type specimens to work with.
{T/ February 28}
Grid + Typographic Space Presentation
Work on Exercise 03
Project 02: The Typographic Grid
Assigned Readings~
Typographic Design: Form and Communication, 5th edition,
by Rob Carter, Ben Day, Phillip B. Meggs
Chapter 03: Syntax and Communication
Chapter 04: Legibility
Chapter 05: The Typographic Grid
Grid Examples / Square Format~
{TH / March 02}
Work on Project 02
Project 02: The Typographic Grid
Assigning pt. size variation / establishing visual hierarchy
using Fibonacci sequencing.
*#( :)
Work on sketches and concept development in class. Begin to set up your project in InDesign. Prepare to have iterations of layout 01 and 02 tp show in class on Tuesday.
Using Space Effectively with Typography
Robert Bubp > Hixson Lied Visiting Artist
Thursday, March 02
Richards Hall, 15
5:30 p.m.
;)#
{T / March 07}
Work on Project 02
Prepare layouts for 01, 02 for Thursday.
Process Review. Prepare to pin up your work.
Review terminology and concepts of visual grammer.
Apply this review to how you speak about your own designs.
Prepare for a process review via AirPlay projections.
Class dismissed at 10:30 today.
{March 09}
Work on Project 02
Prepare Layouts 03, 04 for Tuesday.
Process Review. Prepare to pin up your work.
{March 10} ADVISING DAY / Sign up at Richards 120
{T / March 14}
Work on Project 02
Pin up iterations for Layouts 03 and 04.
Print out all four final solutions and see how they all belong and work together. Make adjustments for the final review on Thursday, March 16.
{TH / March 16}
Project 02 Due
Pin up your final four layouts, 01-04 for formal review. Give attention to how you install your work so that it can be viewed optimally.
{T / March 21}
No Class / Spring Break
{TH / March 23}
No Class / Spring Break
{T / March 28}
Make adjustments to Canvas for turning in Project 02
Return Project 01
Review schedule for rest of semester.
Review Exercise 01 / Type Specimens / Classifications
Assign Project 03
Have your text threads [3 conversations] ready for Thursday.
Purchase and have with a bone folder to use.
FROM PAPER TO SCREEN from Thibault de Fournas on Vimeo.
{TH / March 30}
Work on Project 03
Following the
Ellen Lupton Lecture
April 06
7-9 p.m.
AIGA Student Group Hosts a Design Celebration at the Cube in the Haymarket. Thee Railyard on Canopy Street is Lincoln, Nebraska’s premier entertainment district located across the street from the Pinnacle Bank Arena. This vibrant venue features 13+ restaurants & bars, live entertainment, a public market, and THE CUBE. The Cube is the Railyard’s mega screen and features outdoor seating, games and community space.
To do for Tuesday:
1. Have a draft / iteration 01 of your cubes [all 6]printed, folded and in 3D format for review in class.
2. Read this interview with Ellen Lupton.
3. Watch this talk she gave in Baltimore.
{T / April 04}
Work on Project 03
Present 06 cubes, [round 02] with color system printed and assembled for review.
Continue to work on Project 03
Display how you will use color. Work up 6 color studies [different systems] using the Adobe Color System. Present color palettes as your studies. Pick one and apply it to your cubes. Consider hue, saturations, texture, value, contrast, harmony, cohesiveness.
Turn in quiz over Ellen Lupton Interview and Video into Canvas.
Read in preparation of your poster design:
Type Image Relationships
{TH / April 06}
Visiting Designer
Ellen Lupton
5:30 pm
Richards Hall Room: 15
Write 2-3 paragraphs about her talk and turn in to Canvas.
Thinking with Type, by Ellen Lupton [web site]
Demonstration on how to photograph 3D design work by Peter Barnes.
Watch this Video, "How Posters Work," by Ellen Lupton
Work on Project 03, produce round 2 of color variations of your cubes.
Read in preparation of your poster design:
Type Image Relationships
{T / April 11}
Review Round 02 of color studies for the cubes for Project 03 [with alternate color variations]
Sketch up concepts for your poster design. Create 4 variations of your poster with the Type Image Relationships that are mentioned in this essay.
Have comps of your poster ready for review on Thursday. Here is the text to include in your posters. Note you may change the title in red to use your own words. The other bodies of text must be included in the poster.
Text Messaging / Building Blocks Visualizing Friendships
Research + Typographic Space / Design + Documentation / Text as Image
Typographic Form + Communication
GRPH 223 Typography / Spring 2017
School of Art, Art History & Design
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Your name.
{TH / April 13}
Review layouts, comps for your poster design.
Continue to work on Project 03
{T / April 18}
Review layout comps for the poster for Project 03.
Discuss printing strategies and how to prepare your file for print.
{TH / April 20}
Continue to work on Project 03
{T / April 25}
Project 03 Due
{TH / April 27}
Canvas Settings for Project 03 / Turn in
Final Exam Review
Study Topics from the Syllabus / pg. 31
Type Classification Quiz
Organize Process Books / Prepare for Final Exam
Submit Exercise 01 / Type Specimen Library
Documentation from the Class
Teaching Evaluations
{M / May 01}
Turn in Process Books
Final Exam / CANCELLED
Enjoy the Summer Holiday.
http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/CarmenHerrera
Stacy Asher
Assistant Professor of Art
209 Woods Art Building
Department of Art + Art History
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
stacyasher@unl.edu
stacyasher.com