Six short posts about a type design course at Minshar
Second semester, 2016, Minshar
Lecturer: Ben Nathan. Students: Dan Orbach, Ella Sadeh Chen, Alin Barai, Boaz Blum, Romuro Junior, Dor Hirshel, Daniel Leumi, Valya Plentyov, Heli Gan Mor, Tanya Gusin, Yael Molcho, May Cohen, Mali Horon, Netanel Hakak, Reut Asaraf, Sagi Carmi.
Lesson one
In the first lesson we began with a class warm-up exercise: redrawing Narkis Block. A specimen of Narkis Block was printed on A3 sheets with parts of the letters removed, and the missing parts had to be completed precisely. With the help of the existing parts you can follow the logic and learn typographic principles such as harmony within a family of letters, the right division of inner spaces and precise letter drawing, and appreciate the creativity (and genius) of Zvi Narkis’s solutions.
At the end of the exercise we looked at the complete Narkis Block and talked about the different solutions on the wall, about why Narkis drew the letters as they are, about humanist typography, and about typographic naivety, which is a wonderful source of inspiration. Next week – calligraphy!
Lesson two
The whole lesson was devoted to practicing calligraphy; we divided the alphabet into groups of letters according to the movements that create them (the Yod group, the back stroke, the round base, the diagonal and so on), and learned how to use a broad tool to draw the Hebrew letters. Besides the demonstration in class we used two books – Ada Yardeni’s Book of Hebrew Script and L. F. Toby’s Hebrew Artistic Lettering – which demonstrate the movements and teach how to produce different scripts. For homework we write a sentence in calligraphy; the chosen one was the perfect Hebrew pangram.
Next lesson – a lecture + how to make weights + how to make a sans serif!
Lesson three
In this lesson we learned to use calligraphy to produce a bold weight and a sans-serif weight (without serifs). By drawing with a broader tool you can raise the weight of the letter, or by widening the letter and redrawing over it in pencil. Through drawing we tried to see what happens to a letter when it gains weight, how to treat the inner space and how to keep the right ratio between stems and roofs.
To make a sans serif we used two pencils joined together and drew a serif letter, which we turned into a sans by canceling the tensions in the letter and cutting the calligraphic movements that go beyond the bases and roofs.
In the next lesson each student will begin working on their own typeface and we will move on to the computer.
Lesson four
In this lesson we went over the homework – producing a regular weight, a bold and a sans serif – and began working on the typeface each student will design.
We presented four ways to approach designing a typeface: through calligraphy, a concept, a constraint or a revival. Each approach produces a different way of working. Those who chose calligraphy will continue drawing the alphabet, scan it and begin to “discipline” the calligraphy into a letter.
Choosing a concept is more open, and you can choose a formal concept (for example, reversing the tensions in the letter) or an idea (for example, a typeface for children with attention disorders). Working through a constraint is an interesting choice too – for example a monospace font (in which all the letters sit on the same width), or a stencil font with no closed shapes. You can also revive an existing letter: collect references and build a full family from them.
Next week – a tour of the Israel Museum!
Lesson five
In this lesson we traveled to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for inspiration and to learn about the development of script through the Shrine of the Book, the illuminated manuscripts and the typographic treasures of the archaeology wing.
Lesson six
In this lesson we learned digitization: how to turn the letters we drew into a font file. We focused on how to draw a letter correctly on the computer, how to build a correct arc and how to work in the Glyphs font editor. We also showed a quick way to make sketches with the pen tool and brushes in Illustrator.
For the lesson each student brought the inspirations and first sketches for the typeface they want to design, and everyone was sent home to keep working on it. From next week we work on the computer, and it is a good time for everyone to start thinking about the hardest part of designing a typeface – choosing a name for it
Final presentation
An advanced course in Hebrew type design held at Minshar. The course focused on typographic systems with multiple weights and styles, and on a method that includes artistic writing, hand sketches and work on a reduced set of control letters. It placed special emphasis on the dynamics of contrast (the difference between the thick and thin strokes of a letter) and on letters for running text.
These pictures are from the final presentation of the third-year type course – the parallel fourth-year course can be seen at Meir Sadan’s Meir Sadan.
פאנל האורחים שנכח בהגשה: דניאל גרומר וYotam Hadar. Photographs: Sagi Carmi
