The Typocondriac Newsletter S01E04 - Online workshops!
Online Workshops for everyone!
Hello friends,
I hope you are safe at home. Nothing really changed since last month here, except maybe that this situation and the fact that being the whole family together 24/24 is not always easy, and have a huge impact on me. Not having enough time for myself each day can be really frustrating some days. I could not finished my fonts for the deadline I had fixed earlier. My professional is divided by 3 since beginning of march. But you know, on the other hand, I have the best time I have never had before with my kids. So I try to keep frustration away to try to maximize what is given to me right now.
But, during the last month, I did not do nothing. I actually did much, even if not enough for me (but will it be enough someday?).
Change of mind regarding Instagram
I have always had a love/hate relationship with Instagram for many reasons. I never liked the likes and follow system, I hate its algorithm. But overtime, I could create a community of nearly 20000 people, especially through my two #100daysoflettering challenges. That community gives me so much feedback and love that I realized it was important for me to take care of it. So lately I tried to concentrate on Instagram and discovered a fantastic communication tool. Through posts, stories, and videos, you can do much. You can share much! That is what I started to do the last few weeks through different things.
Sharing books through Instagram Stories
I am a big books lover. I have a lot of them at home and at the studio. And on the weekends, I love to open some of them and spend some time getting inspired by them. Some are so fabulous that I decided to share some pages in my stories. After the first book, I received many messages to thank me and asking me to share more! So I decided to share one book every weekend, from my sofa. 2 weeks ago, I shared the 2 volumes of the History of Graphic Design from Taschen, ans last weekend that was Mid Century Graphic Design book from Theo Inglis. And I will try to do it as often as I can. If you missed the 2 first EPs, just check my Instagram page, I bookmarked them under "books".
Lettering tips through IGTV
I also started a serie of videos to help beginners or people who would like to improve their lettering skills. I chose IGTV over Instagram Live just to make it easier and that is what most of people wanted. I did one video for now, next one will be next week. Again feedback was fantastic, especially as the video was focusing on lefties in Brush Lettering and we all know that this area is not covered in many books (except mine :P) or tutorials. Again, here I will try to be consistent. Not easy to be sure in the actual situation.
Online workshops for everyone!!
But here is the thing I am most proud of lately. With the Covid19 situation I had to postpone workshops. And over the last years I realized that it was more and more difficult to move people to come to my workshops. It is always a cost and not everybody can afford it. And also, it is mostly only for people living not too far away. And I wanted to give the opportunity for people far away to learn something with me too! So I decided to launch online workshops. It might not be as good as a "physical" ones, I have experienced it lately with students and it was fantastic.
So I decided to launch 2 different workshops to begin with:
"Basics of Hand-Lettering" ( May 16th 2020) which will cover everything you need to know to be able to improve your skills, from beginner's level to intermediate.
"Create your first font with Fontself" (May 30th 2020) where you will create your first font, from drawing to creation of the font file, using Fontself, the great Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop plugin to create fonts.
Both workshops cost 90€ and for font making workshop, Fontself is offering each participant a license for their plugin (49€ value), so you don't have to pay for it. So I think it is a fantastic opportunity to learn something new or to improve your skills for a really good price.
And as usual, my subscribers get a little discount ;-) So if you use the coupon code NEWSLETTER10, you will get a 10% discount for each of the classes. So don't hesitate too long ^^
One hour Free Coaching!
But that's not all folks! I decided to add 1 hour free coaching for each of the participants whenever they want after the workshop, to help them finish the projects they started during the workshop. I really want people to take the maximum from that experience.
So I really hope you can join. Tickets are limited.
Some news and inspiration now please!
Ok ok, you got enough of my marketing now, let's share some cool stuff!
Paradise Point font from Swell Type
You can get it from MyFonts.com. I talked earlier of Swell Type, I think in the first issue of that newsletter and this is typically the kind of fun type I like to see and use.
Great list of type videos/confs.
People at TypeTogether created a great thread on Twitter to list all the videos and conferences online talking about type. Many people contributed, I am sure there are many you never heard of before. To be bookmarked for sure!
https://twitter.com/TypeTogether/status/1247906018731974657
Another great list of ressources for designers (from AIGA Eye on Design)
It might not be directly related to type, but this ressource is crazy. Go check it out, I am sure you will find many things you will be interested in!
Type Crit Crew
The idea behind that project is to help type students to get help from experienced type designers. As the creators say:
"Our goals are:
To make type design and type designers more accessible and approachable to students of all levels from anywhere in the world who are serious about honing their skills
To do our part in making our field more inclusive and diverse
To spread our love and passion for type".
Some Instagram accounts to follow
Let's finish with some nice type to follow!
- The luminor Sign Co
Here is the account of Ged Palmer, a fantastic UK Sign Painter I had the chance to meet last year at Berlin Letters. I am always impressed by the quality of his work but also because he can draw and paint perfect letters really easily. You can see he did practice a lot to reach that level.
- Jed Chilsholm
Jed has a fantastic style which reminds me a lot of Herb Lubalin, which did great type in the 60s and 70s. It is really interesting to realize how that period of time was so creative in terms of letters. Maybe that is why it is my favorite ;-)
That is it for that month! I hope these few links will help you get inspired! I also hope to see you at one of my upcoming online workshops in may or somewhere on the social medias. Take care, stay home and safe and I hope next month the situation on our planet will be better for us!
Cheers,
Francis