The School of the Arts · visual, musical & performing arts
Graphic Design & Typography
Design as a series of defensible decisions: hierarchy, grid, and type that says what it means.
Contrast, alignment, hierarchy, grid — the working principles behind every layout that reads well.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~24 hours
Unit I — Design Is Decisions
What a layout is for · Figure and ground · Contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity
Unit II — The Grid
Columns, gutters, margins · Hierarchy: what reads first and why · White space as an active element
Unit III — Color and Image in Layout
Palette restraint · Pairing image and text honestly · Contrast that every reader can see
Unit IV — A Small Portfolio
A poster · A one-page program or menu · Presenting and defending your choices
Letterform anatomy, classification, and setting text so the reader never notices the work.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~22 hours
Unit I — Anatomy of a Letter
Stroke, stress, serif, x-height · Classifying typefaces without snobbery · Reading a type specimen
Unit II — Setting Text
Size, leading, measure · Kerning and tracking by eye · Hierarchy with a single family
Unit III — Pairing and Choosing
Why some pairs work · Choosing type for a voice · Common crimes and their fixes
Unit IV — Type in the Wild
Signage and wayfinding · Screen type and legibility at small sizes · A typographic poster, set properly
Grids, style sheets, and pacing across spreads: designing pages meant to be read in order.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~20 hours
Unit I — The Page System
Formats, margins, and folios · Master grids for many kinds of page · Style sheets: one decision, many pages
Unit II — The Reading Experience
Headlines, decks, captions, pull quotes · Pacing across a spread · Images that earn their space
Unit III — Producing an Issue
A four-spread feature from raw text · Working to a flatplan · Preflight and handoff to print
Marks, wordmarks, and the systems around them — identity that survives a one-inch, one-color test.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~18 hours
Unit I — What a Mark Must Do
Logos, wordmarks, and monograms · Reduction: the one-inch and one-color tests · Trademark basics for designers
Unit II — Building the System
Color, type, and spacing rules · Applications: card, sign, screen · Flexible systems versus rigid ones
Unit III — The Guidelines Document
Writing rules people will actually follow · Showing correct and incorrect use · A compact brand book, delivered
From the broad pen to the screen: how letterforms got their shapes and why revivals keep returning.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — Letters Before Print
Roman capitals and the broad pen · Carolingian minuscule to blackletter
Unit II — The Press
Gutenberg and movable type · Old-style, transitional, and modern faces · The industrial flood of display type
Unit III — To the Screen
Phototypesetting's brief reign · Digital type and the return of craft · Reading today's revivals