What's Your Typography?

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Your eyes take in countless letters, words, and sentences per day.

Even if you do not consider yourself a reader, the demands of modern life and the realities of the internet mean that you are reading more frequently than ever in some ways.

Each letter your eyes take in is like a tiny work of art. Yes, it's true!

Some people work hard and with great inspiration to create new ways of printing the written word, a form of art known as typography.

These kinds of artists, known as typographers, are the ones who create fonts, the different styles of letters.

Anyone who has used a computer knows the word font; many have a favorite font. You may even have teachers who request papers be written in a certain font.

It can be fun to play with fonts and discover the many forms your typed words can take! (It can even be fun to dance with them!)

Explore the hundreds of different fonts available for download at DaFont. Grab your notebook and follow these steps.

1. Write a font name for a school report.

2. Write a font name for a birthday party banner.

3. Write a font name for a wedding invitation.

4. Write a font name for a computer advertisement.

5. Write a font name for a heavy metal album cover.

6. Write a font name for a mystery novel.

7. Write a font name for a pirate movie poster.

8. Write the name of six or seven other fonts you think are cool and what you might use each for.

9. Next to the name of each font, write down the feelings, moods, or ideas it invokes.

Use your notes to help you answer these questions.

• Why are certain fonts associated with moods, genres, or concepts?
• Why would a teacher or professor expect reports written in only a simple font like Times New Roman?
• In what ways can typography, the designing of new fonts, be considered a form of visual art?

Graphic artists who are passionate about creating new fonts, also known as typographers, are continually trying to come up with newer, more innovative ways to express the written word.

In the Got It? section, see how other artists take inspiration from some of those fonts and incorporate them into their artistic designs.