My friend the letterpress
I started out my career in design long before I even knew what the word design meant. I have loved to draw for as long as I can remember and my parents have proof in the form of hundreds of scribbled on sheets of paper from my “early” design years. It is fun to go back and look at doodles that I did when I was 5.
I was obsessed with logos, mostly from my favorite sports teams, and would try to re-create them by hand and then post the good ones on the big bulletin board in my room. Back then, I had no way to render type other than by hand, so that is exactly what I did. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was actually beginning to learn about kerning, leading, ascenders, descenders, visual weight, etc.
In high school I had a very small amount of exposure to type design on a computer, but never truly learned about what makes up a letter form, much less how to control the look of type beyond selecting a different font. What the heck is leading anyway and why did I need it? I had comic-sans right? Yep, I am good to go. Or so I thought…
It was not until my second year in design school when I took a book-making class that was entirely on the letterpress did all of my past doodlings of type and logos begin to make sense. Suddenly there was actual lead (well, it used to be back in the day, but was made from another metal for health reasons). I cannot accurately put into words how important it was for me to have taken this class. I learned so much about typography from the letterpress and wish everyone who is interested in type design could have the same chance that I did. I promptly signed up for every other available class involving the letterpress.
In our technology/computer driven world it is far too easy to type in a headline and call it a day without ever making a printout to really look at each letter to see how it relates to the one next to and before it. I always try and view my work from the medium in which it will be displayed to my audience and I encourage you to do the same.
If I could give young designers a tip it would be go find a letterpress or similar manual process and learn all you can.