Week 2

Session recording

Reading discussion

We’ll discuss our two readings from last week, to help set the tone for our first unit:

Unit 1 reading synthesis

Further reading

Throughout this first unit, you are also expected to complete these additional readings at your own pace. (Some are lengthy. Pace yourself.) While we won’t have an in-class discussion, they are to serve as additional reference and fodder for your project:

• The Principles of the New Typography
  Jan Tschichold, 1928

• Detail in Typography
  Jost Hochuli, 1987

• The Elements of Typographic Style
  Robert Bringhurst, 1992

Our first project

Let’s discuss the project and its requirements in detail:

Project 1, Manuscript

Getting into typography

We’re going to go through a quick history of typography, and what to look for as you begin to work with type:

It’s all about type

An exercise in type hierarchy

We’ll do a quick walkthrough of Figma (you should have already made accounts). Everybody should join our team, via this invite link:

Typography & Interaction, 2023–24

And you can follow along in our design file for today:

Class demo

A quick overview of what we’ll try to through:

• Overall organization, naming, following, commenting
• How to set up frames (née artboards)
• Some basics of type and styles
• Establishing some hierarchy with title, author, first paragraph

For next week

• Download Visual Studio Code, which we’ll use as our text editor for the course. Have this installed on your machine by next class.

• Also download GitHub Desktop, which we’ll use to manage our code. Sign in there with your GitHub account (which you should have already created). Make sure you have applied for the student benefits.

  Once you’re in, send us your username/profile:

  Assignment submission

• Select your text for Project 1, Manuscript and add it this list:

  Project 1 reading selection

  We’re not going to allow any duplicates, so pick your text early!

• Read your text (or a chapter if it is lengthy—ask if you are unsure) and write a short response. You’ll use these both as the content for your project. Add the link to your document in our form:

  Assignment submission

• You’ll complete the first phase of your project, sketching three different directions for laying out your text and response. Be ready to go through these in class next week! Submit your Figma links for these, as well:

  Assignment submission

  Please organize your frames and link us directly to where we need to be.