Topic outline

  • Course info

    The course runs for four weeks each Tuesday and Thursday. Teaching will be held in-person, but we'll be using a Discord server to submit work, document the process and share presentations. A link to the Discord server will be sent out by Friday 2 September.

    The aim of the course is for each student to design two typefaces in the span of four weeks. These typefaces will be presented in a printed type specimen, which we will design and produce together during the last week of the course. It's quite a lot of work for 4 weeks, but you do get 6 credits. The idea is not to produce absolutely polished typefaces but to familiarise yourself with the necessary tools and make something you can get excited about and take further later on.

    No prior experience in type design or typography is necessary, but I highly recommend you take a look at the some of the basic tutorials of Glyphs, the software we'll be using:


    You can already begin thinking about what kind of typefaces you would like to design. I will be asking you to pick two briefs from the list below:

    1. Choose a piece of lettering that you find attractive and/or curious. Design a typeface based on said lettering.
    2. Design a typeface based on strokes made by an unconventional writing tool (of your choice or invention).
    3. Design a typeface that combines features from your favourite and least favourite typefaces.
    4. Curate a small exhibition of 5–8 found objects that share some conceptual or formal properties. Design a typeface based on these objects. 

    If you have any questions or concerns about the course, please email me at tuomas.kortteinen@aalto.fi.