This website presents student work from Type Design or “Letterform Design”, an elective course within the Graphic Design (MFA) Department at Yale School of Art.

Over the course of one semester, meeting for consultations once a week, students develop typefaces more or less closely based on historical reference material. Students are asked to define functional goals for their projects, which their results will be measured against. Source material is treated as a guideline, an example to learn from. The objective is to build a usable font as a consistent system of shapes and spaces, based on an understanding of the aesthetic demands of individual letterforms as well as the interrelations between them.

Course description

Designing typefaces means building systems of recombinable letterforms. It is therefore distinct from other letter-making disciplines in that it necessarily calls for a systematic approach. Besides optical and aesthetic issues presented by individual letters, the course focuses on building a consistent typeface design by way of a structured and systematic process. Students create their own digital typefaces, working on individual projects chosen in consultation with the main instructor. The project definition necessarily includes aesthetic as well as functional goals; with the problems of type design so deeply interconnected, a clear project definition is needed to establish relevant criteria for testing and evaluating the work. Projects are usually based on one or more historical references, which are understood as guideposts but not constraints. The class is taught with RoboFont, a leading font editor program for Macintosh OS X that allows designers to construct letterforms on screen and turn them into usable fonts. Students are introduced to the software while learning the principles of designing and spacing type. Fully fledged type designers are not made in one term; the object is to “demystify” the subject and teach users of type an increased appreciation and deeper understanding of it.

Instructors

Main instructor, fall semester (743a): Tobias Frere-Jones
Main instructor, spring semester (743b): Nina Stössinger
Additional critiques in both semesters: Matthew Carter