Typography (VCDP 1130)

Typography is a core element of graphic visual communication. Students will first explore the historical foundations of letterforms and typographic design and will then learn to recognize and use classic typefaces and techniques, including kerning, tracking, leading, and line length, with particular attention paid to legibility and readability. Students will learn to explain and analyze type anatomy and classification systems and will evaluate contemporary trends and issues of functional versus expressive typography. Through creating typographic style sheets in order to analyze, plan, and implement design strategies based on client needs, students develop skills in working with typographic hierarchy and type pairings in relationship to message and context. Adobe Illustrator and InDesign will be used to explore type design, as well as analogue lettering techniques. Font management and font sourcing practices will be introduced.