Immerse yourself in the world of type design while surrounded by the support of industry professionals and a community of like-minded typophiles. This live, online program is for designers who already have the beginnings of a typeface, but want to build it out into a multi-weight family.
By the end, you’ll be ready to tackle more complex projects with more confidence, and will have a better understanding of contemporary type design practice.
Join us Winter 2023 and dig deeper into typeface design.
— 18-week type design course
— All sessions are live and online
— Tuition is set on a sliding scale
— Sessions are held in English
Participants who do not have a Glyphs license yet receive an extended trial license and can purchase their own full license at a discount.
Practica Two: Expansion
- When?
19 January through 30 May 2023,
Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00 p.m. CST (Chicago) - Who?
Nicole Dotin, Process Type Foundry
Sol Matas, Hungry Type SocietyVisiting Instructors:
Rutherford Craze, Mass-Driver
Kalapi Gajjar-Bordawekar, Universal Thirst
Cyrus Highsmith, Occupant Fonts
Aleksandra Samuļenkova
Alice Savoie
Nina Stössinger, Frere-Jones Type - Where?
Live Zoom sessions
- For whom?
Some experience with type design expected. Read more.
- How much?
Starting at USD 2060, and one work study position for a person with demonstrated need
- Language
English
- Prerequisites
Mac with Glyphs preinstalled. Internet connection, a layout program like Affinity Publisher or InDesign. Zoom and Discord accounts (both free).
- Registration
- Links
All details available on practicaprogram.com
What you’ll learn:
- Designing according to the intended use of your font
- Building a strong visual system
- Structuring font families and their design spaces
- Creating new weights or styles through interpolation
- Developing a more efficient and reflective type design process
- Expanding character sets and designing diacritics
- Keeping yourself motivated throughout development
- The importance of writing systems outside Latin
- Insight into the professional world of typeface design
What’s included:
- Live classes held over Zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays
- Lectures, feedback sessions, font file reviews, focused instruction to push your ideas further
- Ability to watch lectures again (lectures are live, but recorded)
- Individual feedback on your typeface
- Five guest lectures and one critique from industry professionals
- Access to our private Discord community
- Free trial Glyphs license
Schedule:
- Jan 18: Course introductions, lecture
- Jan 24: Students introduce their typefaces
- Jan 26: Lecture: the brief, making useful type
- Jan 31: Feedback session, mini lecture: proofs as documentation
- Feb 2: Lecture: the system of the black
- Feb 7: Flex session: Q&A
- Feb 9: Lecture: planning your typeface family, intro to interpolation
- Feb 14: Feedback session
- Feb 16: Lecture: interpolation and its possibilities, design space ideation
- Feb 21: Review of students’ font files
- Feb 23: Lecture with Nina Stössinger: a case study
- Feb 28: Feedback session
- Mar 2: Lecture with Aleksandra Samuļenkova: the design of diacritics
- Mar 7—19: Individual feedback sessions
- Mar 14: Feedback session
- Mar 16: Feedback session: diacritics with Aleksandra
- Mar 21: Feedback session
- Mar 23: Lecture with Kalapi Gajjar-Birdawekar: type, culture and global scripts
- Mar 28: Feedback session with Cyrus Highsmith
- Mar 30: Lecture with Alice Savoie: the role of research in typeface design
- Apr 11: Review of students’ font files
- Apr 13: Lecture: Design of numbers, punctuation, and more
- Apr 18: Feedback session
- Apr 20: Feedback session: punctuation
- Apr 25: Feedback session
- Apr 27: Lecture with Rutherford Craze: professional practice
- May 2—4: Independant work time, no class this week
- May 9—11: Individual feedback sessions
- May 16—18: Independant work time, no class this week
- May 23—25: Individual feedback sessions
- May 30: Final presentations 🎉
Our program is now two complementary courses, Practica One and Two, that can be taken back-to-back or separately, totaling 24 weeks in all (with a nice break in between).