
Collect all project files for this course here.
Explore the anatomy of type by identifying pieces like x-height, baseline, and cap height. Apply these concepts in Illustrator using Pathfinder, swatches, and logo design.
Explore typography basics by adjusting paragraph spacing, removing rag, and correcting widows and orphans to improve readability in body text.
Apply placeholder text to visualize paragraphs, fix ragged edges, and eliminate widows and orphans while adjusting tracking and kerning to improve readability.
Learn to manipulate type in Illustrator by turning text into outlines, expanding it into vector shapes, and editing anchor points and handles for precise typography.
Learn how InDesign links text boxes to create flowing magazine text and how paragraph and character styles control typography for print layouts.
Recap the vocabulary section with a quick quiz covering font vs typeface, kerning, and leading (referred to as letting), plus using Illustrator for vector format.
Explore standard typeface classifications, from the weight and width on a scale to black letter, old style, italics, and scripts, with examples like Garamond and Universe.
Learn practical typography classification to describe typefaces to designers and clients. Explore graphic, slab serif, script, modern sans serif, and old-style classifications and their use and readability.
Apply user experience concepts to design two ads for a health food store and a central bank, targeting distinct audiences and communicating personalization, GMO-free trust, and brand identity.
Review a user experience recap that clarifies motion classifications and how they influence the message to the viewer, while highlighting the role of type in effective communication.
Explore typography in application design by applying point size, contrast ratios, and other type rules across interfaces in this introductory video series.
Create a splash screen as a quick sequence shown while assets load, showing the app logo and loading text; experiment creatively and compare your choices to the instructor's assets.
Explore the splash screen design decisions for the panda extravaganza app and learn how loading sequences with dot animations enhance the user experience on the iPhone grid.
Explore how typography hierarchy and color choices drive attention and urgency in ads, with examples from Best Buy, Gap, Nike, and Target, highlighting sale text, percent off, and time-sensitive offers.
Apply type holography techniques to design a web advertisement for a budget cell phone company, exploring font styles, logo treatment, and multiple variations for a 23–27, cost-conscious audience.
Recaps logo design concepts from typography, offers cheat sheets to brainstorm logo ideas, covers strategies for plain text logos and logos with graphics, and previews print media biography.
Master typography for print by learning classifications, choosing type pieces, and packaging assets for printing services. Prepare yourself for real-world large print jobs and upcoming digital publication prep.
Master typography fundamentals by reviewing vocabulary, kerning and tracking, understanding font classifications, and applying type across print and digital media, including apps, web, and email, with a final recap quiz.
Review the type Achrafieh quiz for a quick recap and identify areas to revisit; keep classification slides, the nine to seventy-two point sizes sheet, and logo assets for future design.
Final notes urge you to start your job search after course, using freelancing platforms like inlands and up work, and to fail harder to gain experience before the final quiz.
Typography is one of the oldest art forms in the world, and one that has remained important even through our move from the print to the digital age. This is because you don't need technical know-how master typography; instead, you need a keen eye for detail, a love of creating, and an appreciation of good design. If that sounds like you, then you've chosen the right course.
Your Typography Crash Course
Typography Fundamentals in a Flash
This course has been created for anyone who loves typography design; print designers, graphic and web designers, animators, sign writers, and many more. Whether you're a beginner or an intermediate, you'll pick up a comprehensive skillset through the 73 lectures and 6 hours of content that come with this course. You can use any publishing software to follow along with the instructor; Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or just about anything else you have a basic understanding of.
Each section the course includes its own walkthrough exercises so that you can put the skills you have learned to practical use. You'll start off by learning all of the terminology regarding typography (tracking, leading, kerning) and font classifications, and then you'll examine concepts like how fonts impact a message, and how fonts are used in different media like advertising, web, print, logos, and so on. Finally, you will cover the essentials of digital publishing before concluding.
By the end of this course, you have both a theoretical and a literal understanding of typography, from how it is used to where it used to why it is used, and of course you'll gain a solid groundwork in the practical uses of typography too.
Tools Used
Adobe Illustrator: The standard software for graphics design, and where you will do the majority of your work. Create any kind of illustration or digital art your mind is capable of thinking up, with any kind of typeface effect too.
Adobe Photoshop: Used for editing and manipulating photographs and images, but also with plenty of scope for font and typefaces Improve colour, add special effects, remove blemishes, create your own images with font from scratch, and more.
Adobe InDesign: InDesign is a desktop publishing software application, usually used to create print media like posters, brochures, magazines, newspapers, books and signs (unlike Photoshop and Illustrator which are digital based). Usually the most popular Adobe tool among typographers.