Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about lettering and graphic design.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to experiment with typography to express different emotions and ideas.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are, typography, expression, composition, visual hierarchy.

I'm gonna say those again, and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Typography, expression, composition, visual hierarchy.

Good job.

Now let's take a look at the definitions for each of these keywords.

Typography is about arranging letters and text in a way that makes them readable and visually appealing.

Expression is communicating emotion, mood, or energy through visual art and design.

Composition is how different elements are arranged in a piece of art or design.

And visual hierarchy means arranging design elements in order of importance.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

What is expressive typography? And creating expressive typographic work.

In this first learning cycle, we're going to explore the question, what is expressive typography? When you walk along a street, how many examples of text and typography do you see? Well, typography is the art of arranging letters and text in a way that makes them readable and visually appealing.

Examples of typography appear in many places, including posters, magazines and books and street signs.

Graphic designers work with typography in their designs to express emotions and convey meaning through letterform shape, font size and weight, typeface, colour.

By changing these elements, a typographic design can reflect the meaning of the text.

When these elements are brought together to express a feeling like excitement, calmness, urgency, or happiness, it becomes expressive typography.

Here are two examples of expressive typography.

Discuss with a partner how each of these designs make you feel.

What choices did the designers make to create that feeling? So pause the video here and give yourself time for that discussion, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did your discussion go? Well, Izzy says the light, flowing style of the word 'breathe' makes her feel calm and relaxed.

The lines look like they move around the letters like the wind, so it matches the word well." Sam says, "The word 'explore' looks bold and strong." She likes how the letters are surrounded by visual symbols connected with maps and compasses.

Did you think the same? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What is typography? The art of arranging text.

The creation of a sculpture.

The use of colours in art.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to answer that question, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that typography is the art of arranging text, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

When deciding on a typographic style, it's important to think about what it is being used for.

Elements like size, weight, and colour affect the readability of the text and the emotions it expresses.

Different typefaces are used in typography to express different concepts.

A serif typeface is considered to be traditional and formal.

Sans-serif typeface are minimal and designed to be easier to read.

Script and calligraphic typefaces are often seen as elegant.

A display typeface is useful for short, bold headlines and showing important information quickly.

Because different forms of typography have unique expressive qualities, it is important to choose appropriate styles for the context.

Formal invitations, children's books and posters are each used for different purposes.

How might typography be used in each of these examples? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think then? How might typography be used in each of these examples? Well, a formal invitation to an event might use script typefaces in a calligraphy style to make it appear elegant, like in this wedding typography design.

But what might we think about when choosing the typeface for a children's reading book? Well, typography in a children's reading book often uses handwritten typefaces with lots of spacing between words and pictures to make it clear and easy to read.

And then considering the typefaces for a poster, what might we use then and why? Well, a poster may use large display typefaces and colourful pictures to make it eye catching and help draw attention.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

How can serif typefaces be described? Casual and relaxed.

Modern and playful.

Traditional and formal.

Pause the video here and take a moment to answer this question, and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that serif typefaces are described as traditional and formal, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to choose a word or phrase to represent visually in a typographic design.

Decide on the emotion or message that you want to convey.

Draw each of the letter forms and enhance them with colours, details, and other expressive elements.

Focus on style, size, and colour to express the intended emotion.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at this learning task, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Shall we take a look at an example? So hopefully you chose a word that you wanted to represent visually in typographic design and decided on that emotion, or the message you wanted to convey.

So like with this word here, radiate, this example uses blended pencil colours to enhance the letter forms with a warm colour palette and expressive, radiating style.

Well done for having a go at that learning task.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson, we're going to take a look at creating expressive typographic work.

Can you see how each of these typographic label designs uses different arrangements of text and pictures? Take a look at that now, what can you see? Composition refers to how different elements are arranged in a piece of art or design.

The composition style and presentation of typography can affect the emotions we feel just by looking at them.

What are the differences between these compositions? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? What differences could you see between these compositions? Well, this composition arranges the letters on straight lines, which gives the overall design a calm, organised appearance.

Typographic designs that place letters diagonally, overlapping, or in scattered directions, express a more dynamic, energetic feeling, like in this one here.

The Bauhaus art movement emerged in 20th century Germany, and continues to influence art and design today.

Typographic designs were an important feature of the Bauhaus movement.

Bauhaus art is often characterised by abstract, angular, and geometric shapes.

These elements are used to create dynamic compositions.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

How does typography affect emotions? By increasing text size only.

By using only black and white.

Through style and presentation.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about this question and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that typography can affect emotions through style and presentation, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

There are many elements in a typographic design, composition, typeface, letterform, and colour.

With so many elements to consider, designers may decide to use a visual hierarchy.

Now, a visual hierarchy is a way of arranging elements in order of importance.

Using a visual hierarchy means choosing certain elements to stand out within a design so that they will be seen first.

This can be done by changing the size, weight, or colour of certain letters, words, or text.

In this typographic poster design, a visual hierarchy reveals elements in a certain order.

Sweeping lines to catch attention, and large capitalised letters.

Logo graphic, and then smaller text written vertically.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

What is a visual hierarchy? Is it, arranging elements in an order of importance? Is it choosing colours instead of black and white? Is it a unique typographic identity? Pause the video here and discuss this question with your partner, and press play when you are ready to continue.

If you said that a visual hierarchy is arranging elements in an order of importance, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Creating an expressive typographic work involves choosing a design format and a concept or idea to express.

Examples include words or phrases to illustrate, music albums or book covers, and posters.

We can plan a composition by sketching where each of the elements, like letters, words, and pictures will be placed.

You might use a visual hierarchy by thinking about how to make the most important elements stand out.

Patterns, textures, and other decorative elements can then be added to make it more expressive and bring the typographic design to life.

Take a look at some of these patterns and textures here and some of the decorative elements, like leaves that you could use.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to create an expressive typographic work, and this could be a word or a phrase to illustrate, an album or book cover, a poster design for an event.

So choose elements which are appropriate for the design format and idea or emotion being expressed.

First of all, plan the composition and use a visual hierarchy to make some elements stand out in your design.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at creating that expressive typographic work, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So you may have created something like this, this compositional plan, it changes the typefaces and font sizes to make some words stand out.

So can you see we've got work hard, dream big.

Can you see how some of those typefaces and font sizes have been altered to be bigger or smaller? And then there are the decorative elements such as the thinking bubbles, which create expression.

Now, the second part of this, I'd like you to create your expressive typographic work, adding colour to reflect your visual hierarchy.

So use your compositional plan to guide you, okay? You may choose to add additional decorative elements also to enhance your design.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at adding the colour there to reflect your visual hierarchy, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, let's take a look at how this one has changed adding that colour.

So you might have created something like this where the design has changed the typefaces, font sizes, and it's used those bold colours to make some words stand out.

And those decorative elements have also been added, symbols that add expression to the typographic design.

And you see how we've got those cloud bubbles there, thinking a bit like dreams. Well done for having a go at creating your expressive typographic work.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about creating expressive typographic work.

Expressive typography can communicate ideas and emotions through how text is written and presented in a design.

Different typefaces are used for different purposes, so it is important to think about choosing an appropriate style for the context.

Composition and visual hierarchies can be used to arrange elements in order of importance so that they are eye catching and stand out.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I hope you enjoyed learning about lettering and graphic design, I certainly did.

I hope to see you for another unit of learning soon.

See you then.