A Deck of Types

Purchase a pack of 36p x 24p (6 x 4 in.) notecards, unlined.

Part 1: On one side of the notecards, draw (in pencil first, then black ink) each of the entries in “Appendix A” (pp. 271–286) of The Elements of Typographic Style as they appear. Make the drawings as large as possible. Then, synthesize Bringhurst’s notes about each of the entries on the other side of the notecards.

Part 2: Select a letter of the alphabet, excluding Ii, Jj, or Ll. Select a typeface and draw (in pencil first, then black ink) the upper- and lower-case letter you’ve selected on one side of one of the notecards. Be creative: type is everywhere. There’s inspiration in class readings, discussions, or simply your visual environment. On the back of the card, write some details about the typeface: who designed it, the year it was designed, other typefaces related to it, outstanding features of the typeface, some aspects of its history, etc. Over the course of the semester, try to add about five cards per week to your deck. At the end of the course, you should have a total of 50. Students who extend their research beyond Bringhurst’s basic catalog will be rewarded.

This assignment is from the class Typography I.