Instructor: Paul Shaw

Location: UCLA / Los Angeles

Mode: in-person

Dates: July 28–August 1, 2025

Tuition: $1200

Description

This course will provide a general overview of both the history of typography and of type design in the West—with an emphasis on Latin (roman) type—from the birth of printing with movable type in the mid-15th century through the first decades of digital fonts at the end of the 20th century. It is suitable for beginning and advanced learners. It will explore the influence of scribal styles of writing on early typographic forms; the development of the “modern” typographic book in the 16th century and changes and challenges to that format in the 19th and 20th centuries; the impact of technology on the form and use of typefaces since 1800; the shift from the book as the locus of typographic development to posters and ephemera from the 19th century to the present; and the effect of digital type on democratizing the profession. 

The class will consist of lectures and class discussions combined with field trips to Los Angeles-area institutions such as the Young Research Library at UCLA, the Huntington Library in Pasadena, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, the Getty Center in Brentwood, and the International Printing Museum in Carson City to see books, type specimens, posters, and other items relevant to the history of typography. We will be based at UCLA and CalRBS will provide transportation to travel to the above mentioned sites.

Course Objectives

1. to provide students with the tools and vocabulary to identify and describe typefaces; 
2. to establish a basic understanding of the major stylistic trends, technological changes, and key figures in type design from Gutenberg to the 21st century; and
3. to explain the source of many of the typographic features used in most book designs. 

Requirements

This course is intended for those with little or no formal instruction in the history of typography.