Typography as we know it has taken on many different shapes in our lifetimes: we've cast them into metal, cut them out of woodblocks, painted them across awnings and signs, and scrawled them onto our most personal letters.

With the aid of new digital tools, our letterforms can be malleable and reactive to its environment and the people that view them. New tools and frameworks have been developed over the last decade that present us with opportunities to shape the content on our screens — and anyone can learn to use these tools.

This class will focus on generative design as it pertains to typography and letterforms. We will explore the history and building blocks of algorithmic art, and apply those tools to manipulate digital type.

P5.js will be the main programming library for the course, and students who are new to programming are welcome. Techniques covered in this course will include building visual compositions with code and creating interactive typographic sketches.

Topics

• Foundational concepts of programming
• Familiarity with Javascript and the p5.js library
• Building typographic compositions with code
• Artists and techniques in the generative typographic space

Goals

• Build confidence in basics of Javascript programming and the P5.js environment
• Conduct critical reasoning as it applies to computational making
• Gain familiarity with technological advances in generative typography

Material required for the participant

A laptop computer, power cord and extension cord if necessary