research current topics in type design and typography to identify tendencies, trends, areas of practice and topics of personal interest. we want to assemble a “state of the typographic union” as a junior class, amassing as much information as we can. gather everything you can find. read lots of design and non-design magazines (important), skim books (important), go out and observe the real live physical world, and skim blogs. look at things that aren’t necessarily design – a trip to walgreens might reveal some interesting stuff, for example. collect stories, images, etc. make notes, prints, photos, copies, etc, as needed. shoot for collecting 50 things for next class. this definitely means you have to work quickly and intuitively.
- what things are you seeing over and over again?
- where is type appearing that is new, unusual, important, or that we don’t normally think of?
- what’s an area of typographic practice that you’re personally interested in?
- who’s using type, both inside and outside of the design profession?
- how is type being used by both groups? how is it different or similar?
- what types of type are being utilized today? are there cultural preferences or market-based preferences?
TYPE WALL!
bring in physical, visual stuff (copies, printouts, actual printed pieces, photos, etc) for next class for a massive find+share and discussion. we are going to assemble things, and keep collecting things as we go, into a massive wall which will be our visual “state of the typographic union”.
in class: read the bil'ak reading under "course materials" in the blog sidebar to the right.
homework: collect stuff! and read the triggs link under “course materials”, up to p 12, stopping at “typography and its swiss roots”.
