Type design workshop in Boston Feb 2, 3, 4 2013

[ebensorkin]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

Crafting Type is coming to Boston from Feb 2 to the 4th of 2013

This is a 3 day intensive class (morning to evening and Friday to Sunday) for anyone that wants to either start designing type or wants to quickly move their existing skills forward.

http://craftingtype.com/

MIT Civic Media Center
The Media Laboratory
Wiesner Buildin E15, Room 344
20 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

[hrant]

Nice! And the Media Lab is a killer place.

But why isn't it free? ;-)

hhp

[oldnick]

And why is all the type idiosyncratic?

[ebensorkin]

Why indeed! A valid question. But not one much different from "Why isn't all education free?*".

But on a more practical level the reason is that we have basic costs that we have to cover. Students get a discount because we believe in that and because of the donation of space and resources the University gives us. AIGA and ATypI members get a discount too albeit not so deep. We want to support them too.

I suspect that there is also the question of self-selection. The students we have had have been amazing. They have been very motivated. If Crafting Type was free they may have been less focused. The idealist in me is not excited by the way that this works as a psychological factor. However like it or not, it clearly a very real factor. Oddly enough it was a student that told me this was true for them which is how I started to think about it.

If someone would like to give Crafting Type an endowment to allow travel etc and we could easily be a not for profit. Our status is a default rather than a necessary state. But as things stand now we have to come out slightly ahead to be able to keep doing this. In this way we are a bit like TypeCon or ATypI despite the difference in status and stature. We all have to keep slightly ahead or stop holding events.

Crafting Type helps students gain insight into how hard it is to make a nice typeface and how wonderful a nice typeface can really be and why. We also do the type industry in general favors because we put names and faces to the makers of type so that student realize that real people make type and if they license a type it is a meaningful thing. We explain what EULAs are and why the license status of a typeface matters. Dave myself and Vern will also sometimes vary and disagree with each other in class about these issues and design issues to encourage students to make up their own minds.

There is one very big difference: we don't plan for this to happen once a year or even three times but rather much more often. Expect to see Crafting Type anywhere people want it to arrive.

*I think it should ideally be free but as a society you have to rearrange your priorities and accept the loss of privilege for some for that to happen. I am all for that. A level playing field is the best way for merit to rise.

[ebensorkin]

Nick: The type on the poster and the site or where?

[hrant]

Eben, you did note the comma used to make my smiley? :-)

I agree that it can't be free (unless as you say philanthropy somehow kicks in). And hopefully everybody in your team can appreciate that sort of thing... Because otherwise I'm tempted to expect that a student can take you guys home afterwards and make you keep teaching him type design for free... ;-)

BTW, do you guys know about this?
http://thepublicschool.org/

hhp

[abattis]

Couple of important points for this forum:

If you want a 3 day typeface design workshop in your city, let's chat!

If you want to be a guest instructor, let's chat!

> But why isn't it free? ;-)

It is as cheap as we could possibly make it, and it is non-profit; its even financially administrated by a official 501c3 non-profit :-)

If someone really wants to attend and can't afford it, we should chat, and the CT team will try to figure something out :-)

ps. Its Saturday/Sunday/Monday Feb 2-3-4 :)

[hrant]

If you do one in SoCal, and you want me, I'm here.

I used to teach a type design evening course at Art Center... until the economy went down the tubes - now it's pretty hard to find the minimum eight people willing to pay $800 a pop (since I'm no Carter).

hhp

[abattis]

> http://thepublicschool.org/

AWESOME :) I love unschooling; I read a lot of John Taylor Gatto's stuff :)

[abattis]

> the minimum eight people willing to pay $800 a pop (since I'm no Carter).

I'm curious, how long was the course, in total taught hours and duration?

Vern is going to see about one in SoCal as he's in Orange County now

[hrant]

It was once a week for 14 weeks, three hours each.

hhp

[abattis]

That's good value! We end up running the workshops like 12 hours a day because we're nuts, so its quite comparable in terms of tutoring hours available - but running a course over a long time like that gives everyone a lot of homework time :)