I attended a workshop called Type Speaks by Association of Illustrators and Graphic Artists-Wisconsin featuring hand-letterer and type extraordinaire, James T Edmondson. Held in the Art Building at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a bunch of us gathered to learn all about type creation. I was excited to learn more about fonts and lettering, and basic rules and classic fonts as a springboard for creating my own type.
James spent the first hour walking us through a zine that he created on basic rules for weight, contrast, width, stems, construction, optical size, contrast type, stroke endings, and ascenders/descenders. As he broke down each part, it was apparent that type is a science, and creating fonts is like a balanced chemical equation- adhering to design rules- or breaking them intentionally- are elements that create a great font.
The rest of the time was spent creating our own type. We were each randomly given two adjectives and one word. The instructions were to write the word in a way that the adjectives described. My adjectives were quizzical and fresh, and my word was snowily. I started writing the word on an upward slant, to mimic when the voice rises at the end of a question (quizzical) and playing around with a fresh looking weight. The upward slant looked weird, so I settled on having the descender on the y curve the opposite way and adding a hint of a question mark, which may have been overkill.
After an hour or so of this, we hung up all our types and critiqued them one by one. The major take-away with my type was to bring the middle part of the w up to the height of the other strokes so it would look less like a butt- oops! Something I had seen but wasn't sure how to fix until the feedback in critique. Everyone had a different-looking word and type, and it was fun to see all the different takes. I might do this in the future just for a fun exercise. It's a great way to think creatively within the bounds of letters, a directed sort of sketch.
The workshop was time well spent- I learned a lot about fonts and type creation, and enjoyed creating letters with fellow artists. James was an excellent teacher and I appreciated learning a new skill. I also really liked working creatively away from a computer, which is something that I need to go out of my way to do more often! A big thanks to AIGA for organizing the workshop. Learning never ends.
