Who cares about fonts? This project challenges students to learn about fonts: how they are used, why they are used, and all of the many reasons to care. We start by researching common fonts from a provided list — trying to figure out what makes these fonts uncommon or relatable. The driving questions are, ‘Why should anyone care about Baskerville or Garamond or Helvetica? What will make my audience stop and read this poster?’ Sketches and discussions lead to technical training in new Illustrator tools.

The best part of this project is seeing how enthusiastic students become about typography — a topic that previously meant little if anything to most. It sets the tone for Futura (pun) work. Click on the images to enlarge.