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S351 Typography
Syllabus for a Typography course (S351) taught at Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, Indiana, USA for the fall semester from Jan - May 2016.
Download: S351 Typography syllabus.pdf
Project 1: Which 'type' is the nature of your business?
Part of the training in this course requires the students to become decision makers. They can freely choose three out of five types of professions listed below and create a typographically-driven business card that best represent these professions:
- Car salesperson
- Dentist
- Marine biologist
- Graphic designer/Web designer
- Chef
Once you have made the selections, decide the size, orientation (horizontal vs vertical), and whether a one-sided or two-sided card would best fit the nature of the chosen businesses. The standard dimensions for a printed business card measures 2" x 3.5." If your design includes a 'bleed,' include an extra 1/8 inch of space for design elements or backgrounds that extend beyond the edges of their card.
Their cards must show business information about a company or an individual (factual or fictional). They may use their own name and apply it to all three cards but their card must typically include a name, an affiliation (title), the company's name, and contact information such as street addresses, telephone number(s), email addresses, website and other relevant social media addresses such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Colors are powerful communication tools that can be used to cause psychological reactions and they are to be used judiciously in their business cards.
The deliverables are the documentation of every step of your design process and the mockup for three business cards in their final forms.
Objectives:
Develop a basic proficiency in identifying and classifying type;
Identifying the main features in a typeface and to use type categories and characteristics to select typefaces and structure text on a surface;
Create type-driven compositions that represent themes typographically;
Select and manipulate type to depict a concept or mood;
Develop an understanding of the applications of display typography and expressive applications of typography in a printed medium; and
Experiment with format, orientation, colors and other applicable visual elements to enhance the type-driven compositions.
Shown here: Kristi Granecki as a marine biologist and interior designer, Tyler Risinger's solution for a front and back business card design for a user experience, for his uncle Doug Strothma who is an electrician.
Download: S250 Typography Lesson 1.pdf
Project 2: May we 'type' your order?
Professionally well-designed menus are hard to come by. With many take-out menus notoriously known for grammatical and typographic mistakes, the student's task is to create a professional menu based on the beauty of the written words in which the names of the dishes are mesmerizingly described with words. The design of their menu is mainly a typographically-driven design and images are to be kept minimally or almost non-existent. As it is pointless to redesign a well-designed menu, search for a local restaurant (in New Albany or Louisville, KY) with take-out menus that you can redesign. They may choose from the following types of cuisines:
- Chinese
- Other Asian (Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc.)
- European/Western (pizza, sandwiches,
- Latin American
- Vegetarian/Organic/Kosher-style/Halal
As it is mostly a type-driven design, experiment with different typestyles, character weight, character width, and the various type family which can all combine to add richness to their menu. The size of their menu can be as large as 11" x 17" with minimum one or more folds to add visual interest as well as creating different sections for the cuisine of your choice.
They may also propose a different size but bear in mind that any design decision must be guided by a rationale which justifies your choice for the chosen size. Environmentally responsible papers cost more but if the choice for paper is aligned with an organic or vegetarian restaurant's mission to promote awareness for social responsibilities, then they may be better off with a texturized paper which could add a level of richness or 'flavor' to the menu. Likewise, the choice of colors must also be thought out. They are encouraged to pursue unconventional solutions if the solution befits the type of cuisine the restaurant serves or the direction which the restaurant intends to exude.
Part of the requirement of this project is a collaboration with the printmaking department in which we will create a stenciled design on a T-shirt which spells out the name of the restaurant of their choice. A date will be announced for you to bring any relevant materials.
As required for their 1st project, your final deliverable for this project includes the documentation of their design process from sketch to refinement to the final design plus a mock-up of the menu.
Objectives:
To immerse in the ubiquity of typography in which the nuances of type are overlooked by comparing what has been professionally produced to distinguish what makes a good or bad typography;
To learn the tools available to produce good typography on paper;
To explore typography on a multiple surface that involve folds;
To apply knowledge from the course to produce a design that affords a comparison between the before and after a redesign;
To experiment with non-traditional ways of creating typography through experimentation.
Download: S250 Typography Project 2.pdf
Project 3: What is your body type?
In our final project, we explore the taboos associated with tattoos as they are prevalent with celebrities, actors, models, sports stars who paved the way to erode the prejudice that is associated with tattoos. Inspired by a book about typographic tattoos by Ina Saltz, our final project is about creating typographic tattoos.
Select from one of the options below and hand-draw a colorful design to decorate a body surface of your choice that will best take advantage of your design:
- Tribute. Pay tribute to someone alive or dead as this choice requires you to make your message typographically clear with a passionate declaration. You may combine your design with some graphical elements where necessary;
- A big statement. The requirement for this choice dictates that your typographic tattoo must cover at least 50% of the surface of the part of the body of your choice;
- Numerology. As a subset of typographic forms, numbers, unlike letter, have always been both mathematical and symbolically meaningful. You may spell out the number with letters or used in combination with the numerical form.
Shown here: Cody Smother's idea of commemorating someone dear to him with Roman numerals and curvaceous lines.
Download: S250 Typography Project 3.pdf
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YEOH AS EDUCATOR
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Select below to view my students' awards as well as their creations from Nanyang Technological University, Texas Tech University, and Southern Arkansas University.
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