Introduction to Typography

History and vocabulary

This course treats typography as a discipline with its own history, rules and terminology. Its starting point is that the craft is roughly 500 years older than contemporary graphic design, and that long lineage explains why the field is so rule-bound.

Who should start here

It is designed for people beginning in graphic design who want the terms and reasoning behind type decisions. If you already work with fonts daily, the work of naming and measuring letterforms will sharpen how you explain your choices to others.

What it builds

• A shared vocabulary for letterforms and their parts
• A habit of measuring and describing type rather than judging it by eye alone
• Context from art history and information architecture for layout decisions

Peer review and design research appear among the skills, so expect feedback on your own work.