09.18.25
Hey all, Ryan here! Michelle has handed me the keys to the newsletter this time. Today, in honor of back-to-school season, I’m going to be talking about teaching!
✒️ teaching
This is the year I’ve done the most of it, at least when it comes to type design. It feels like the amount of class time has been building up to this for a while now, so I’ll first give some context.
In March 2020, I started my own type design class called Type Sessions. The students were 8 friends of mine who I’d somehow convinced could learn something from me. The idea was to create a casual social atmosphere with not too much pressure. In-person and eight weeks long. You can guess from the date why it didn’t continue after the first meeting... The class has been on ice ever since.
That year, I received word that School of Visual Arts was looking for a type design teacher. Right after all the paperwork was signed and I was committed, I learned that SVA’s course called Type Design is short for “typographic design,” not “typeface design.” Cue a whirlwind year of me building a curriculum from scratch — for setting type, not drawing it.
After that, I needed a break. Years passed, and in 2024 I received an email from SVA student Xinyuan Qu. He was interested in an independent study! We met every week and worked through a type revival project, based on lettering he found on a piece in the Rijksmuseum’s collection.
Soon, SVA was finally ready to embark on its first-ever (I think) class completely dedicated to typeface design. I was tapped to help plan a three-part “bundle” course and curate the teachers to do so. I would teach the introduction to hand-drawn lettering and typeface ideation, Nick Sherman would teach font production, and Marie Otsuka (and later Nikki Makagiansar) would lead web-based type specimens.
This year saw a continuation of that class, more independent studies (shout-out to the amazing Junghoon Lee & Gabrielle Grimm), and Python workshops for Type@Cooper students. I was also asked to help co-teach the Type@Cooper Condensed program, filling the big shoes of Troy Leinster. Having taken the 1-year, twice-a-week, after-work Extended program in 2014, I never fully grasped how intense the 5-week, everyday, 9am–9pm Condensed program was. Each of these 16 students really hustled to make a solid type family in such a short timeframe. We wrapped mid-July, and the projects were impressive.
As all teachers know, it can be very demanding and exhausting at times, but there are moments that make it all feel more than worth it. For me, it’s when something I say or do sets off a light bulb. I’ll see it in either a student’s eyes or their work. The tricky part is making sure that light bulb is original, rather than a shape or hue that I prescribed.
📂 a tab that’s open
Ryan
The New Literalism Plaguing Today’s Biggest Movies, a piece that expresses what I’ve been subconsciously feeling from this era of movies.
Michelle
🎵 try on our headphones
Ryan
Michelle
See you in class :)
— R