Credit Points: 15
Study Time: 150 Hours

Words and letterforms can be used as a substantive element of an image, drawing or design, and letterforms can be seen images themselves with their own abstract visual characteristics. 

This unit considers the dynamic physical relationship between word and image highlighting ways in which meaning is carried and modified by the characteristics of type, and how Illustration can both complement and incorporate letterforms in a variety of formal and conceptual ways. The unit explores the relationship between form and function, and introduces typography and the notion of multiple forms of communication in the context of Illustration.

Outline Syllabus
(An indicative guide to the content covered in this unit.) 

• Introduction to typography and typographic language
• The many uses of type and letterforms
• The manipulation of the formal qualities of type – words as images
• Written words as mode of communication
• What it is and what it says
• Official and unofficial language
• The hand-made and the manufactured
• The use and misuse of typographic grids and other compositional structures
• Making bespoke hand drawn and digital letterforms
• Composition, layout and type setting
• Typologies
• Printmaking

Method of Delivery
Studio based practical studies supported by workshops, group critiques, lectures, seminars, tutorials and demonstrations.

Aims

A1 To develop your understanding of handmade and digital type and letterforms and their uses in composition and image making
A2 To enable you to use and combine graphic, typographic and illustrative components in unified visual solutions
A3 To introduce how images are made and understood in a range of cultural contexts to inform imaginative approaches to problem solving

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this unit you will be able to:

LO1 Demonstrate your understanding of communicating concepts and ideas using a variety of forms and media
LO2 Utilise an appropriate level of technical competence, including composition and design concerns, to produce unified visual solutions
LO3 Demonstrate informed approaches to image generation

Reference Material

Key
Crow, D. (2003). Visible signs: an introduction to semiotics for art and design students. Lausanne: AVA
Perry, M. (2007). Hand job: a catalog of type. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Recommended
Barthes, R. (1977). Image music text. London: Fontana
Heller, S. and Ilic, M. (2006). Handwritten: expressive lettering in the digital age. London: Thames and Hudson
Klanten, R. (2009). Tangible: high touch visuals. Berlin: Die Gestalten Verlag.
Newark, Q. (2002). What is graphic design? Mies: RotoVision.
oynor, R. (2003). No more rules: graphic design and postmodernism. London: Laurence King

Also recommended
Graffiti Research Lab Archive // Book By Its Cover // Eye Magazine