Lettering: Create Designs with Personality
A course by Manuele Mancini estudioGraphic Design Studio
A course by Manuele Mancini estudio, Graphic Design Studio
Discover the elements that give expressiveness to letters and let them speak for themselves
Each project has its own personality and, therefore, its own tone of voice. For graphic designers Gianina Manuele and Gustavo Mancini, founders of the lettering, calligraphy, and illustration studio Manuele Mancini, lettering is a versatile tool for creating unique designs and bringing brands to life.
In this course, learn how to develop a lettering design from scratch and add expressiveness to your letters. Discover how to use different letter shapes to transmit feelings and rhythms, transport someone to a different era, and communicate concepts with a distinctive tone of voice.
What will you learn in this online course?
22 lessons & 16 downloads
Materials
3 minutes, 18 seconds
Lettering principles 1
5 minutes, 2 seconds
Lettering principles 2
9 minutes, 24 seconds
Lettering principles 3
7 minutes, 47 seconds
Tones of voice
19 minutes, 54 seconds
Conceptualizing ideas
5 minutes, 53 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start by getting to know your teachers Gianina Manuele and Gustavo Mancini and their experience in the universe of letters. Discover what their favorite type of project is and where they find inspiration to spark their creativity. Then, learn what tools you need to complete the final project.
Study the fundamental principles needed to make good lettering designs. Analyze a variety of projects with different aesthetics to train your eye and to understand the expressiveness of letters as well as the factors that make a design speak with the right tone of voice.
Now it’s time to apply what you've learned with a professional assignment. Choose three words that will be the backbone of your project and develop your ideas by searching for related concepts and creating a mood board for each design. Finally, bring it all to life by drawing your letters.
Wrap up the course by learning all about the digitization process. Your teachers show you three approaches to transforming your creations into digital art and how to make any adjustments you deem necessary. Pick up some final tips on how to share your work through your portfolio or social media.
Recommended software & tools for this course
What is this course's project?
Create three lettering designs using different tones of voice, finishing touches, and techniques.
Who is this online course for?
Designers, illustrators, calligraphers, and typographers looking to add personality to their work or anyone who is passionate and curious about letters.
Requirements and materials
No prior lettering knowledge is needed, but basic notions of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are required to carry out the final project.
As for materials, you need a pencil, eraser, permanent marker, masking tape, white paper for sketching, tracing paper, a computer with Photoshop and Illustrator, and a scanner.
Reviews
- minesbardin_65PLUS8 months ago
Son More y Gustavo encantadores.... Me han inspirado a seguir aprendiendo sobre este hermoso recurso del lettering! Muchas gracias
- 9 months ago
legal
- 1 year ago
Me gusta mucho como han estructurado el curso, y las explicaciones que nos dan. Aunque sepas de lettering te dan tips nuevos bastante interésantes
- 3 years ago
Muy buenos maestros, lo recomiendo.
- 3 years ago
El curso está súper interesante. Muy bien explicado con muchos consejos interesantes para mejorar tus lettering.
Over the years, they have worked for a wide range of clients from all over the world, including international clients from Australia, Norway, Montenegro, Brazil, Ecuador, China, England, Canada, and the United States. Since 2016, they have also been teaching beginner and advanced lettering workshops in Mendoza, San Luis, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Hello!
- Inspiration and references
- U2
Train the eye
- Materials
- Lettering principles 1
- Lettering principles 2
- Lettering principles 3
- Tones of voice
- U3
Draw the letters
- Conceptualizing ideas
- Mood boards 1
- Mood boards 2
- How to draw letters 1
- How to draw letters 2
- How to draw letters 3
- Variations
- U4
Digital process
- Fast Inking and Vectoring 1
- Fast Inking and Vectoring 2
- Conscious Vectorized 1
- Vectorized Conscious 2
- Conscious Vectorized 3
- Image and retouching 1
- Image and retouching 2
- How to show my work
- FP
Final project
- Lettering designs
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
Certificates
PLUSIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
You’ll learn to create lettering, calligraphy, and custom typography compositions for branding, packaging, and visual identity projects—from hand sketching to professional digital finishing.
This is an intermediate-level course, perfect for those with basic drawing or design skills who want to deepen their knowledge of lettering, calligraphy, and digitization techniques.
You’ll need paper, pencil, brush pens, calligraphy pens, tracing paper, fine liners, a scanner or phone for digitizing, and access to Photoshop and Illustrator for digital editing.
Calligraphy is artistic handwriting, lettering is the custom drawing of letters, and typography is the design of fonts for digital or print use.
You’ll learn how to scan sketches, clean up and vectorize your letters in Photoshop and Illustrator, optimizing nodes and paths to create print-ready or digital-ready artwork.
Yes, the course guides you through creating mood boards and mini briefs to define visual concepts and consistent styles for your typographic projects.
Yes, you’ll learn how to integrate lettering and calligraphy into visual identities, labels, logos, and packaging, adapting styles to fit each project’s needs.