From the Lettering to the Font

A course by Type-Ø-Tones , Typography designers

Typography designers. Barcelona, Spain.
Joined January 2015

Create your own alphabet based on a found lettering

  • Spanish with subtitles in English
  • 100% positive reviews (102)
  • 1509 students

Create your own alphabet based on a found lettering

A course by Type-Ø-Tones

Many of the signs that we find on the street or in the advertising of yesteryear and that fascinate us are those that are well drawn, originally by hand. And it is because they underlie a coherent application of basic rules essential for design of letters and that determine their structure, appearance and the relationship between them.

In this course, with the typographers Josema Urós and Laura Meseguer (Type-Ø-Tones), you will learn to analyze "found" labels, deconstruct them and create new characters to generate your own labels, marks or even a complete alphabet.

Read more ↓

What will you learn in this online course?

18 lessons & 6 downloads

Production flow
3 minutes, 27 seconds
Vertical metric
1 minute, 46 seconds
Basic forms and interior space
2 minutes, 31 seconds
Sketching by contour 1
18 minutes, 37 seconds
Sketching by contour 2
14 minutes, 58 seconds
Spanish with subtitles in English
  • 100% positive reviews (102)
  • 1509 students
  • 18 lessons (2h 47m)
  • 6 additional resources (3 files)
  • Online and at your own pace
  • Available on the app
  • Audio: Spanish
  • Spanish, English, Portuguese
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Unlimited access forever

What is this course's project?

You will develop a keyword from which you can design the rest of the characters of your alphabet. Traditionally Hamburg has been used and some derivatives, Hamburgefonts, Hamburgevons and Hamburgefontsiv, but the challenge is to find yours.

Projects by course students

Who is this online course for?

To anyone who is curious to know how typographies and graphic design students are designed to have an interest in understanding how the architecture of the letter is.

Requirements and materials

For the analog part you will need mechanical pencils, soft pencil, eraser and onion paper. For the digital part, a computer with a vector drawing software installed.

It is essential to know how to draw by hand and have knowledge of vector drawing.


Reviews

1509 Students
102 Reviews
100% Positive ratings

Type-Ø-Tones

A course by Type-Ø-Tones

Teacher Plus
Typography designers

José Manuel Urós is a self-taught programmer, typographer, designer and guitarist.

Born in Barcelona in 1956, a city that loves and tries not to leave more than two weeks ... every two years.

He began his career as a programmer in the eighties and in 1988 he began to work with numerous design and advertising studios.

In 1992, he established a close relationship with Estudio Mariscal, in charge of typographical projects and editorial design. From 1993 he teaches Design and Typography courses in Eina, Elisava, ESDI and IDEP.

His with the fonts EbuScript, Matricia, Vulcano, Memimas, Ginebra, Joost, Optica, Reload, Solida, Arboria and Arbotek.

Parallel to his work as a designer, he develops a fruitful musical career playing with artists and bands such as Bootunoo, New Buildings, MCW, La Fura dels Baus, Leo Mariño, Josep Giménez, Elements, Pangrams, Adrián Morales or Unoma and Altaba / Samsó / Urós , among others. His last performances have been with the GRUS group.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Laura Meseguer is a graphic designer, typist and freelance typeface designer. He lives and works in Barcelona and in his studio he develops editorial design projects, as well as lettering and customized typography.

In 2003 he studied the KABK Master's Degree and Media in The Hague. His final work, the Rumba typeface, is selected in 2005 by the TDC in the TypeDesign Competition. As author, she publishes the book "TypoMag, typography in magazines" and in 2012 "How to create typographies, from the sketch to the screen" of Type e, which is co-authored by Cristóbal Henestrosa and José Scaglione.

Meseguer has participated in exhibitions and conferences at an international level and teaches typography classes at schools such as Elisava and Eina.

She is the author of the alphabets such as Cortada, Frankie, Rumba, Guapa, Magasin, Lalola and Multi.


Content

  • U1

    Introduction

    • Who we are and course objectives
    • Our influences: examples of alphabets extracted from "lettering"
  • U2

    Basic principles of the design of alphabets

    • Production flow
    • Vertical metric
    • Basic forms and interior space
    • Optical systems, parts and components
  • U3

    Analogue sketching and preparation to digitize

    • Sketching by contour 1
    • Sketching by contour 2
  • U4

    Vector drawing

    • Prepare the document in Illustrator
    • Drawing by parts
    • Drawing the first series
    • Drawing of the derived characters 1
    • Drawing of the derived characters 2
  • U5

    Complete the project and ... beyond!

    • Drawing of 'unique' or 'special' characters
    • Capital letters
    • Fine adjustments. Space, print and correct
    • The spacing
    • Complete the alphabet?
  • FP

    Final project

    • From the Label to the Typography

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
    Plus

    If 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

Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.

All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.

The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.

You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.

If you're a Plus member, when you complete a course you've purchased, you'll instantly get your personalized certificate. You can see all your certificates in the Certificates section of your profile. You can download your certificates as PDFs and share the link online. Learn more about certificates.
From the Lettering to the Font. Calligraphy, and Typography course by Type-Ø-Tones

From the Lettering to the Font

A course by Type-Ø-Tones
Typography designers. Barcelona, Spain.
Joined January 2015
  • 100% positive reviews (102)
  • 1509 students