Teaching Materials

Welcome!

If you are a teacher of typography, this PDF contains background information and the handouts you need to assign all 24 chapters of Explorations in Typography. The Assignment pages include a general description, detailed instructions, thought questions (which can be used for class discussions), and typesetting tips.

The sample text we use is an excerpt from Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works by Erik Spiekermann. This body copy is available on the DIY page of this site and the full text, including heads, byline, and footnotes is on page 4 of the PDF.

Why assign Explorations?

These exercises were developed over the course of approximately ten years of teaching typography. I call them “Explorations” because you and your students can use them to investigate the variety of ways text type might be composed when you exploit the natural breaks in the language. These breaks occur with each new paragraph of body copy and with hierarchical elements such as heads, bylines, subheads, and footnotes.

Practicing by typesetting the same text over and over is a bit similar to playing scales on a musical instrument. It familiarizes students with their “instrument”—in this case, type on the page. They gain fluency and facility with both the macro- and micro-aesthetics of typography and page composition.

If you have comments, questions, or feedback (good or bad), please get in touch.

Thank you and, as always, happy typesetting!