Customizing Type with Draplin: Creating Wordmarks That Work

Join design icon Aaron Draplin as he shares tried and true techniques for customizing type – an essential skill for graphic designers of all levels. In this 90-minute class, you'll follow along as Draplin digs for antique typographic references and then creates several type treatments of his own to design merchandise for Portland, his beloved hometown. The lessons cover:

• Discovering reference material
• Kerning - owning the space between characters
• Customizing letterforms
• Sketching type from scratch
• Prepping a file for print (and even finding a good promotional item vendor to work with!)
• PLUS bonus segments on adding texture and rebuilding typefaces from scratch

Draplin teaches you to avoid "default" typeface settings and to take ownership of your design by managing the forms, in-between spaces, and relationships of the letters you're working with. Once you master customizing type, you'll have a powerful skill in your design toolkit for every branding, logo, and visual styling project that comes your way.

• Introduction
• Junkin' for References
• Kerning and Tracking
• Playing with Shapes
• Chopping and Extending Letterforms Pt. 1
• Chopping and Extending Letterforms Pt. 2
• Custom Type Sketching
• Digitizing Sketches Pt. 1
• Digitizing Sketches Pt. 2
• Preparing for Print
• Bonus Lesson! Adding Texture to Type
• Bonus Lesson! Rebuilding Script
• Conclusion
• What's Next?