Typeface Design Class

Article by Jason Puckett

I’ll never look at a letter the same way again.

I’m not talking about the dramatic, sappy, letters I wrote to my third-grade crush; or the ones I wrote to the editor of The Battalion newspaper at Texas A&M claiming they didn’t know squat about movies. I’m talking about the 26 letters of the English alphabet. The ones I learned how to write in elementary. You remember. It was on a chalkboard, or a large sheet of newsprint with groups of two solid lines across the page divided by a dotted one in the middle. I was learning about Typography and I didn’t even know it. I would draw the capital letter ‘A’ from the baseline (the lower solid line) to the cap-height (that top solid line) creating a typeface known as ‘Jason’s Handwriting.’ Twenty years later, I find myself learning how to write all over again.

Enter Holger Kappenstein’s Typeface Design class. A class that provides the knowledge and skills required to design and create a professional typeface. Holger divides the class day into two sections: a theoretical part and a practical workshop. Beginning with the history of the alphabet and traveling through the anatomy, function, and creation of letterforms, Holger’s instruction is as detailed and fine tuned as Jan Tschichold’s Sabon typeface. In the first week, each student is required to come up with a concept for a new typeface, a list of corresponding attributes, and most importantly, a name. Once those decisions are made, there’s no turning back.

Then come the sketches. Take everything you know about letterforms, combine that with the ideas and attributes of your concept and give the alphabet a new look. Sounds easy, but it’s not. Sketching and drawing is key. Starting with the word “hamburgecosx”, the students sketch and sketch and sketch, mixing both upper and lower case letters, forming words, creating a consistent look and feel. Holger asks each student to sketch on trace paper, store all sketches in sheet protectors, and maintain a binder of these process sketches. Each week, refinements are made using the almighty white-out pen and layers of trace paper that allow you to see the smallest of letter alterations. And you can’t forget to blow up your sketches for an even more precise look. Subtle changes like a half-point increase in the terminal of a lowercase ‘t’ will either drive you crazy or give you a profound appreciation for all the type designers of the world.

The end result is a complete set of glyphs (80-108) and a promotional piece that celebrates the design and concept of your typeface. It’s not an easy road to get there, but the process is the gold at the end of the rainbow. Taking the time to sketch letterforms and being patient in the analysis and vector creation of your final typeface will provide a unique portfolio piece not many student designers get to have. Plus, you’ll never look at letters the same way again.