So today, I got my first taste of what my Typography 1 class would be. First day is usually a summary of how the next eleven weeks will go and I’ve heard many good and bad things about the teacher I had been signed up for. Through the halls I’d seen a teacher who was sort of this quirky blend of maybe musician/designer type with un-tucked button-up shirts, thick rimmed glasses and a certain anxiousness to him. I would later find out this was not him at all, my type 1 teacher is a forty-something, goatee wielding, tall lanky man with spots of grey in his hair and looks more like a economics teacher.
Upon opening his mouth I noticed his loud boisterous voice and he passed out the syllabus. Right away he went into his reputation as a teacher at the school and confirmed most of it to be true and explained that his class was indeed difficult and as he said it: “I will most likely not see half of you by the time mid-term comes around.” He went on to explain why he is the way he is and about the industry and how the degree we’re getting “don’t mean shit.” I think immediately I was intrigued with his straight-forwardness, I need a good ass whupping and type is a subject I have some interest in, he might inspire me to love it even more or who knows, maybe he’ll make me loathe type… I doubt it.
His lecture style is interesting, he seems to be an extremely intelligent man well-versed in various subject in and out of relation to graphic design and type. He name drops a lot and quotes a lot which is kind of interesting, he obviously reads a shit ton. Looking at the syllabus I was also quite excited that one of the more contemporary designers we’ll be learning about in class is none other than David Carson. Most importantly though his tone through his lectures (so far) are really passionate which is inspiring mainly because I want teachers who love the subject they teach. It’s almost like having an authority on the subject to tell you whether you’re doing something right or not. He might be an authority only to what kind of grade I get in the class but he has after all taught this subject for something like sixteen years.
I’m both intimidated by his class he warned us about how he prefers to “overwhelm than underwhelm” referring to his teaching style. I don’t think I’ve been fully tested under pressure with design-related projects enough to gauge whether or not I can handle it. It’s also exciting to take such a challenge, I naturally feel under developed in typography when he lectured on about it, making me realize I don’t know shit when it comes to it.
Only thing slightly annoying about it is, half of the class assignments have to be “hand drawn”, he lets you trace and consider it hand drawn but it’s still a little tedious. I have a feeling this guy may rip me a new one in critiques but I think it should prove to be very useful.