Radical Typography: Using Hand-Drawn Branding for Expression & More

Love lettering, design, and type? Join legendary designer James Victore as he shares how to distill your most passionate ideas into a designed, typography-based poster that represents your voice to the world.

To be radical is to set yourself apart—to reject all the rules. This is a class on radical typography. It's an hour where you'll disregard the rules, pay homage to iconic misfits and artists, discover James's favorite tools, and find freedom in graphic play.

Key lessons include:

• What is typography?
• How typography and branding work together
• Analog materials overview (pencils, duct tape, paint, and more)
• Exercises and creative prompts to help you find your voice

In the project for this class, you'll use radical hand-drawn typography to brand a theme of your choice. Don’t clean up your work on the computer—make something authentic. Start off slowly, in black and white, then move into color.

In the words of James Victore, "Nobody cares what it looks like if what you say is dumb." Find what you have to say.

Images Courtesy James Victore

• Introduction
• What Is Branding?
• What is Typography?
• The Union of Branding and Typography
• Finding Your References
• Play
• Push-Ups
• Surfaces
• Paint Pens and Sumi Brushes
• No. 2 Pencil and Duct Tape
• Handwriting and Fingerpainting
• Branding Your Theme