How to Practice Typographic Thinking: Supporting Creativity With Fast Sketching in Introduction Level Typography Courses

Abstract

Typography is the craft of endowing human language with durable visual form and thus with an independent existence says Robert Bringhurst, author of the must-have book about typography, "Elements of Typographic Style". In our lifetime we have seen millions of letters and words without noticing the typefaces we've read. Type with its appearances and visual references may attract the attention, set the style and tone of the message. Type in different characters creates different influences on the viewer. One of the main goals in teaching typography is to highlight the power of typefaces which is a very important tool for a graphic designer as the visual form of sound and a very effective way of giving the message. Effectiveness of a message is based on some key factors. Creativity is amongst those factors. While creativity can be defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, in the typography field, amount of the practice becomes a necessity to achieve it. The creativeness in typography is like colors of a painter or the notes of a musician. The artist's or designer's way of using the letters gives the uniqueness or the originality of the idea which becomes visible on paper. This paper is based on the observations obtained within introduction level typography course that is conducted in two different universities. The relation between creativity and typography via fast thinking and sketching will be displayed and criticized over projects that are designed with some restrictions. At the end of this courses three long term projects are designed by students. But with some class works, fast sketching and fast thinking is supported in the context of creativity to achieve the means for more ideas and more solutions to think on.