Tag Archives: Typography

Type Week: Making Your Own Typeface With Calligraphr

Objective:

I can use online tools and my understanding of typographic principles to produce my own typeface.

Web Links:
Calligraphr.com

Topics Discussed:

  • Typography
  • Font

Assignment:

Today we are going to wrap up our exploration of Typography through its ultimate expression: Making our own Typeface!

As we saw in the movie Helvetica that we watched last week, Type can be created through many methods, including carving individual letters out of steel blocks, printing letters on clear plastic strips to stick down on pages, or our preferred method: through digital design, using applications specifically built for this purpose. Today, we are going to explore one of those applications, one that is purpose-built to make creating typefaces easy enough that anyone can do it!

To begin, visit the Calligraphr.com website. You will need to create your own login to proceed – It is recommended that use your haydenmagnet.org email address.

  1. Create a template and print it out. (A pre-built template will be provided in class, but you are welcome to build your own custom templates!)
  2. Fill out the template. You can do this in many different ways:
    • You can simply write the appropriate letter in the box with your favorite pencil, pen or marker
    • You can draw the letters on a seperate piece of paper, then cut them out and paste them in the provided spaces.
    • You can cut out letters from other documents and paste them on the template in the provided spaces to create an eclectic “ransom note” style font!
  3. When you have all the spaces filled, use a scanner, digital camera or a smartphone to take a screen capture of your filled-out template.
  4. On the fonts page, choose the Upload Template option and upload your image file.
  5. Click on Build Font and watch the magic happen!
  6. You now have a custom font that you can install and use for any of your design projects!

Assigned: February 20th, 2024
Teacher Pacing Due Date: February 20th, 2024

Type Week: Typeface Anatomy

Objective:

I can use the Internet to find out more about the different parts of letters and what these parts are named.

Web Links:
A-Z Anatomy of Type
Type Anatomy: A Visual Guide to the Parts of Letters

Topics Discussed:

  • Typography
  • Letter Anatomy
  • Uppercase
  • Lowercase
  • Small Caps
  • Baseline
  • X-height
  • Ascender
  • Descender
  • Serif
  • Terminal
  • Stem
  • Crossbar
  • Bowl
  • Counter
  • Shoulder
  • Ligature

Assignment:

Visit the A-Z Anatomy of Type webpage or the Type Anatomy: A Visual Guide to the Parts of Letters in the links provided. Read through the articles to learn about Letter Anatomy, and the standard set of names for the parts of a letter.

  1. Open your Text Week document in Illustrator and go to the fourth (lower left) artboard.
  2. For each of the fifteen vocabulary terms:
    • Create a headline in Point Type with the vocabulary word itself
    • Use Area Type to write the definition of the vocabulary word. Use complete sentences, and you may copy and paste definitions (Just make sure you are copying the correct definition!).
    • Use Point Type and the line or shape tools to demonstrate what each of the vocabulary terms looks like. Use the pictures on the website as a guide, but DO NOT copy the website’s images into your document. Use a red-colored stroke on your lines and shapes to show the part of the letter the vocabulary word is describing.


  3. You should have a headline, a definition and a graphic for each of the following terms:
    • Uppercase
    • Lowercase
    • Small Caps
    • Baseline
    • X-height
    • Ascender
    • Descender
    • Serif
    • Terminal
    • Stem
    • Crossbar
    • Bowl
    • Counter
    • Shoulder
    • Ligature
  4. Save your document. Make sure that you have all four Artboards completed, and turn it in to today’s Assignment Post in our Google Classroom to complete the Typography Week activities.

Assigned: February 13th, 2024
Teacher Pacing Due Date: February 14th, 2024