The following is a list of institutions offering type design education.
Type design (also: typeface design, pop. font design), the art of creating typefaces, is taught at art and design colleges around the world. A small number of institutions offer a degree in type design; many others offer type design courses as part of their BA or MA curriculum in Graphic Design or Visual Communication. When no full type design course is offered, schools may invite professional type designers to give workshops; these one-off events are not listed in the overview below. [lower-alpha 1]
Universidad de Buenos Aires
FADU/UBA, Secretaría de Posgrado
MT-UBA, Maestría en Tipografía [lower-alpha 2]
Degree:
Centro Universitário Senac, São Paulo
Pós-graduação Senac-SP
Curso de Pós-graduação em Tipografia
Degree: Lato sensu postgraduate
École Estienne, Paris
Atelier de Création Typographique
DSAA Design Typographique
Degree: Master 1
École supérieure d’art et de design, Amiens
EsadType
Post-diplôme Ésad Amiens
Degree: Post-master course
Atelier National de Recherche Typographique, Nancy
ANRT
Degree: Post-master course
Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Class Type-Design
Degree: Diplom Type-Design (MFA equivalent)
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Associate Professorship for Typography and Type Design
Degree: Visual Communication (B.A.), Visual Communication (M.A.)
Technische Hochschule Augsburg
Professorship for Type
Degree: Communication Design (B.A.), Identity Design (M.A.)
Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main
Professorship for Typografie/Type Design
Degree: Fine Arts (B.A.), Fine Arts (M.A.)
Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg
Professorship for Type Design
Degree: Communication Design (B.A.), Communication Design (M.A.)
Centro de Estudios Gestalt, Veracruz
Maestría en Diseño Tipográfico
Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten (KABK), The Hague
(Royal Academy of Art (The Hague))
Master of Design Type and Media
Head of Program: Erik van Blokland
Degree: MA
Tipo.g
Laura Meseguer, Co-director
Degree: Diploma in Typographic Creation
University School of Design and Art of Barcelona (EINA)
https://www.eina.cat/es/masters-y-postgrados/creacion-tipografica
Degree: Diploma in Typographic Creation
École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL)
(University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland)
MA Art Direction: Type Design
Degree: MA Art Direction
Zürcher Hochschule der Künste , (University of the Arts) ZHdK, Zürich
CAS Schriftgestaltung (Certificate of Advanced Studies in Type Design)
MAS Type Design and Typography (Master of Advanced Studies in Type Design and Typography)
Degree: Certificate
University of Reading
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
MA in Typeface Design
Degree: MA Typeface Design
Degree: PhD Typography
Degree: PHD Graphic Design & Typography
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York City
Postgraduate Certificate in Typeface Design (Type@Cooper)
Degree: Certificate
Letterform Archive, San Francisco
Postgraduate Certificate in Typeface Design (Type West)
Degree: Certificate
School of Visual Arts, New York City
SVA Type Lab A 4-week immersive program in Typeface Design
Degree: CE Summer Residency
University of Technology Sydney
School of Design, Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building
Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication
Plantin Instituut voor Typografie, Antwerp
Expert Class Type Design
Degree: Certificate
PXL-MAD, Hasselt
Reading Type & Typography
Degree: Bachelor and Master
ENSAV La Cambre, Brussels
Atelier de Typographie & Design Graphique
Degree: Bachelor and Master
Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
Bacharelado em Design (Undergraduate)
Centro Universitário Senac
Bacharelado em Design / Habilitação em Comunicação Visual (Undergraduate)
Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo
Curso de Design (Undergraduate)
Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES)
Bacharelado em Desenho Industrial / Habilitação em Programação Visual (Undergraduate)
Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSm)
Bacharelado em Desenho Industrial / Habilitação em Programação Visual (Undergraduate)
Universidade Estadual Paulista 'Julio de Mesquita Filho' (UNesp, Bauru)
Bacharelado em Design com habilitação em Design Gráfico (Undergraduate)
Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM)
Bacharelado em Design com habilitação em Comunicação Visual e ênfase em Marketing (Undergraduate)
Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver
Studio courses in typography
Studio course in Type Design
George Brown College SCHOOLOFDESIGN, Toronto
Studio course: Experimental Typography
University of Guelph Humber, Toronto
Course in Type Design
Instructor: Patrick Griffin
OCAD University, Toronto
Course in The Art of Type
York University, Toronto
Course in Typeface Design
Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal
École de design
Course in Type design
Instructors: Alessandro Colizzi, Étienne Aubert-Bonn
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá
Studio course in Type Design
UMPRUM (AKA VŠUP or AAAD), Prague
(Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design)
Studio of Type Design and Typography
VUT: FaVU, Brno
(Faculty of Fine Arts at the Brno University of Technology)
Danish School of Media, Copenhagen
The Danish Design School, Copenhagen
Aalto University School of Art and Design
Department of Media
KyAMK, Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences
École supérieure d’art et de design (ESAD), Amiens
Post-diplôme « Typographie & language »
diplome.esad-amiens.fr Post-diplôme Ésad Amiens
ESAC, Pau
Atelier de typographie
HAW Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Hamburg
BA / MA Kommunikationsdesign mit Schwerpunkt Type Design
Designschule München
(Berufsfachschule für Kommunikationsdesign)
Fachhochschule Augsburg
(University of Applied Science)
Fachbereich Gestaltung, Studiengang Kommunikationsdesign
Berliner technische Kunsthochschule BTK
(University of Applied Science)
Fachbereich Design, studiengangsübergreifend
Fachhochschule Potsdam
(University of Applied Science)
Fachbereich Design, Modul Kommunikationsdesign
Hochschule Darmstadt
(University of Applied Science)
Fachbereich Gestaltung, Studiengang Kommunikationsdesign
Hochschule Niederrhein
(University of Applied Science)
Fachbereich Design, Faculty of Design
Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar
(Academy of Fine Arts Saar)
Studiengang Kommunikationsdesign (BFA, Diplom, MFA)
Kunsthochschule Weißensee, Berlin
(Academy of Fine and Applied Arts Berlin-Weißensee)
Studiengang Visuelle Kommunikation (BFA, Master)
Muthesius Kunsthochschule, Kiel
(Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design)
Department of Design, Communication Design, Typography, Typeface Design BA and MA courses
Fachbereich Design, Studiengang Kommunikationsdesign, Typografie, Schriftgestaltung BA and MA courses
National College of Art & Design, Dublin
Isia Urbino, Urbino
Typographic techniques
Type design
Politecnico di Milano, Milano
Type Design (Communication Design BA)
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla
Specialization course in Typeface Design
Akademia Sztuk Pięknych, Poznań
Poznaniu Pracownia Znaku i Typografii
Sign and Typography Studio
Akademicki Kurs Typografii, Warszawa
Akademicki Kurs Typografii
Communication and Art Department, University of Aveiro
Course Syllabus
Typography Course blog
Escola Superior de Arte e Design das Caldas da Rainha, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria
Graphic Design Course Type Design studies
Escola Superior de Arte e Design de Matosinhos
Communication Design Course Type Design studies
Fine Art Faculty of the University of Porto
Course Syllabus
Type Design course website (course description, blog, projects, results,…)
British Higher School of Art and Design, Moscow
Course of Type & Typography
Moscow State University of Printing Arts
Type Design Workshop
Tipo.g Escuela de Tipografía de Barcelona
Tipo.g Escuela de Tipografía de Barcelona
Södertörn University, Stockholm
Typsnittsdesign och typografi
Typsnittsdesign och fontutveckling
California Institute of the Arts
Program in Graphic Design
Maine College of Art
Undergraduate program in Graphic Design (BFA)
Massachusetts College of Art & Design
Graphic Design undergraduate program (BFA)
Parsons School of Design , New York
Undergraduate Type Design
Portland State University
Intro Level Type Design Course
Pratt Institute
School of Art and Design
Rhode Island School of Design
1 Undergraduate and Masters Introduction to Type Design course
Savannah College of Art and Design
1 type face design undergraduate, 3 graduate level typeface design classes and 1 typeface marketing
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University , Boston
Digital Type Founding : a fifteen-week course in type design
Instructor: Charles Gibbons
School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York
Continuing Education course in Type Design
University of Washington School of Art, Art History, & Design
The Visual Communication Design Program
Yale School of Art
Letterform/Type Design (showcase of previous work)
California College of the Arts
One class on typeface design, offered as an investigative studio in junior year
Type West at Letterform Archive
A year-long postgraduate certificate in typeface design grounded in the Letterform Archive collection of over 50,000 specimens from type and design history
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of design and of the fine arts. Its practice involves creativity, innovation and lateral thinking using manual or digital tools, where it is usual to use text and graphics to communicate visually.
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line spacing, letter spacing, and spaces between pairs of letters. The term typography is also applied to the style, arrangement, and appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created by the process. Type design is a closely related craft, sometimes considered part of typography; most typographers do not design typefaces, and some type designers do not consider themselves typographers. Typography also may be used as an ornamental and decorative device, unrelated to the communication of information.
Emigre, Inc., doing business as Emigre Fonts, is a digital type foundry based in Berkeley, California, that was founded in 1985 by husband-and-wife team Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko. The type foundry grew out of Emigre magazine, a publication founded by VanderLans and two Dutch friends who met in San Francisco, CA in 1984. Note that unlike the word émigré, Emigre is officially spelled without accents.
A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine, or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases.
Emigre was a (mostly) quarterly magazine published from 1984 until 2005 in Berkeley, California, dedicated to visual communication, graphic design, typography, and design criticism. Produced by Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko, Emigre was known for creating some of the first digital layouts and typeface designs. Exposure to Licko's typefaces through the magazine lead to the creation of Emigre Fonts in 1985.
Zuzana Licko is a Slovak-born American type designer and visual artist known for co-founding Emigre Fonts, a digital type foundry in Berkeley, CA. She has designed and produced numerous digital typefaces including the popular Mrs Eaves, Modula, Filosofia, and Matrix. As a corresponding interest she also creates ceramic sculptures and jacquard weavings.
Josef Müller-Brockmann was a Swiss graphic designer, author, and educator, he was a Principal at Muller-Brockmann & Co. design firm. He was a pioneer of the International Typographic Style. One of the main masters of Swiss design. Müller-Brockmann is recognized for his simple designs and his clean use of typography, shapes and colors which inspire many graphic designers in the 21st century.
Willem Hendrik"Wim" Crouwel was a Dutch graphic designer, type designer, and typographer.
Neville Brody, is an English graphic designer, typographer and art director. He is known for his work on The Face magazine (1981–1986), Arena magazine (1987–1990), and designing record covers for artists such as Clock DVA, Cabaret Voltaire, The Bongos, 23 Skidoo and Depeche Mode. He created the company Research Studios in 1994 and is a founding member of Fontworks. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). He was the Dean of the School of Communication at the Royal College of Art, London until September 2018. He is now Professor of Communication.
The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of the most important Irish artists, designers and art educators have studied or taught in the college. NCAD has always been located in central Dublin, and in 1980 it relocated to the historic Liberties area. The College has around 950 full-time students and a further 600 pursuing part-time courses, and NCAD's students come from more than forty countries. NCAD is a Recognised College of University College Dublin. It is also a member of the European League of Institutes of the Arts.
The International Typographic Style is a systemic approach to graphic design that emerged during the 1930s – 1950s but continued to develop internationally. It is considered the basis of the Swiss style. It expanded on and formalized the modernist typographic innovations of the 1920s that emerged in part out of art movements such as Constructivism (Russia), De Stijl and at the Bauhaus (Germany). The International Typographic Style has had profound influence on graphic design as a part of the modernist movement, impacting many design-related fields including architecture and art. It emphasizes simplicity, clarity, readability, and objectivity. Hallmarks of the style are asymmetric layouts, use of a grid, sans-serif typefaces like Akzidenz Grotesk and Helvetica, and flush left, ragged right text. The style is also associated with a preference for photography in place of illustrations or drawings. Many of the early International Typographic Style works featured typography as a primary design element in addition to its use in text, and it is for this that the style is named. The influences of this graphic movement can still be seen in design strategy and theory to this day.
Emil Ruder was a Swiss typographer and graphic designer, who with Armin Hofmann joined the faculty of the Schule für Gestaltung Basel. One of the main masters of Swiss design.
Sumner Stone is a typeface designer and graphic artist. He notably designed ITC Stone while working for Adobe. A specimen of ITC Stone is shown at his personal website.
George Auriol, born Jean-Georges Huyot, was a French poet, songwriter, graphic designer, type designer, and Art Nouveau artist. He worked in many media and created illustrations for the covers of magazines, books, and sheet music, as well as other types of work such as monograms and trademarks.
Fred Smeijers is a Dutch type designer, researcher and writer. He was educated at the ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem in the early 1980s.
ISIA - Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche, is the name of four Italian universities, which train students in the field of design. The ISIAs are in Rome, Florence, Faenza and Urbino. They are public institutions under the umbrella of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, AFAM division.
Fernand Baudin was a Belgian book designer, author, typographer, and teacher. Baudin was active in the field of graphic design in many ways and described himself as a “typographiste”. He was part of national and international typographic organizations, like ATypI, the Graphica-Belgica Prize, and Rencontres internationales de Lure.
Erik van Blokland is a Dutch typeface designer, educator and computer programmer. He is the head of the Type Media Master of Design program in Typeface Design at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in the Netherlands.
Adi Stern is an Israeli graphic designer, type designer, and the President of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.
Betti Broadwater Haft was an American graphic designer. She was known as one of the few women who designed calligraphic letterforms for Photo-Lettering Inc (“PLINC”), a major typeface studio in New York City from 1936 to 1997.