As a graphic designer, I did not expect to learn much from an “Introduction to Typography” course. However, I was reminded about how self-taught practitioners differ from those who received formal education in the field: a wide breadth of knowledge and tools.
I knew about leading/letting, kerning, smart quotes, line length, and many other typographic concepts, but it was interesting to see them being applied to change the feel and legibility of text. I had played with all of these, but using my untrained intution has always led to unpredictable results.
I enjoyed learning about the history of different typefaces too. The explanations underscored truly how fonts differ and why certain ones work so well with specific industries or fields.
Another interesting portion was seeing the use of grids and greeking (lines of varying heights, lengths, and shades to represent text) to analyze how text flows together, especially on a page. The simplication using grids and greeking made the principles stand out. All the examples and their dissection were my favorite part of the course.
Finally, I loved the tip about not using these tools and concepts immediately in order to not constrain creativity. For grids especially, he recommended playing with placement and only overlaying the grid after to clean up the arrangement.
I can’t wait to apply these concepts to my future UX deliverables!