Open Electives

Typography for the Artist

“Type for the Artist” visually explores both the pragmatic and expressive potential of letters and words. Exercises are designed to equip artists with an understanding of letterforms and their anatomy including design, classifications, history, making font selections, basic hierarchy, layout and digital typesetting tools. Students leveraged their preferred art medium as a vehicle to execute projects and meaningfully integrate typographic fundamentals into their work.

Course objectives

  • Identify typographic characteristics & connotations

  • Illustrate an understanding of typographic characteristics & connotations

  • Appropriately use, identify, and diagram typographic terminology

  • Verbalize your understanding of typographic characteristics, design elements, and design principles during a critique

  • Effectively utilize type as elements or units of composition

  • Create, alter, enhance or distort meaning through typographic composition

  • Collaborate to creatively solve a problem

  • Leverage your chosen medium to communicate a message

  • Utilize type as elements or units of composition

  • Create, alter, enhance or distort meaning through context and medium

  • Select and pair appropriate typeface choices to suit content

  • Organize typography to create information hierarchy

  • Develop grid based typographic layouts

  • Employ consistent typographic standards through a series of works

  • Thoughtfully and appropriately incorporate typography into your major studio practice

Project one: Letterform Explorations

Choose a theme and illustrate color harmonies and relationship manipulators. Part one will explore the concepts individually, and part two will combine color harmonies with relationship manipulators.

Objectives

  • Identify typographic characteristics & connotations

  • Illustrate an understanding of typographic characteristics & connotations

  • Appropriately use, identify, and diagram typographic terminology

  • Verbalize your understanding of typographic characteristics, design elements, and design principles during a critique

Project two: typographic metaphor

Objectives

  • Identify typographic characteristics & connotations

  • Illustrate an understanding of typographic characteristics & connotations

  • Select appropriate typeface choices to suit content

  • Effectively utilize type as elements or units of composition

  • Verbalize your understanding of typographic characteristics, design elements, and design principles during a critique

  • Collaborate to creatively solve a problem

  • Leverage your chosen medium to communicate a message

  • Create, alter, enhance or distort meaning through context and medium

  • Select appropriate typeface choices to suit content

Project three: Promoting the artist

Objectives

  • Select and pair appropriate typeface choices to suit content

  • Organize typography to create information hierarchy

  • Develop grid based typographic layouts

  • Employ consistent typographic standards through a series of works

Project description

  • Utilize typography, alignments, grid and information hierarchy to create a matching poster and double-sided postcard which promotes either:

  • A hypothetical exhibition of your work at the H&R Block Artspace, or

  • An actual end-of-semester exhibit in which you will be involved.

  • Examples of work may be used in your layouts, but typography will be the primary tool for communicating information.

Online Presence for the Artist

This course was designed to help artists of all disciplines establish a public online presence through a workshop studio. Students explored a variety of methods for self-promotion utilizing the latest online tools and venues to create a personal online presence. Each student’s outcome was tailored to that individual’s art practice. We also explored online tools for producing printed portfolios and promotional material.

Course objectives

  • Learn online best practices for file management, digital color, typography, image editing

  • Produce and edit a portfolio of work suitable for online presentation

  • Have an increased awareness of opportunities for online promotion

  • Develop online promotional opportunities through online communities and social networking

  • Secure a domain name and hosting package, email and portfolio site

  • Create printed materials to drive traffic to your website