Education Forum

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7

Schedule at a Glance

(Detailed program and bios follow below schedule)

11:45a–12:00p Opening Remarks
Sharon Oiga & Guy Villa Jr

TYPE DESIGN AND LETTERING

12:00p–12:20p Sprinting Through Type Design
Andrea Herstowski

12:20p–12:35p What Can Be Letters, What Letters Can Be: Constructed Scripts in the Design Classroom
Maurice Meilleur

12:35p–12:45p Materiality—Experimental Lettering Techniques in Album Package Design
Emily Carol Burns

12:45p–1:00p Q+A

1:00p–1:20p Break

ANALOG TO DIGITAL

1:20p–1:35p Tactile Typography: Bringing Physical Type into the Contemporary Classroom
Stephanie Carpenter

1:35p–1:45p Experiments in Type: Digital, 2D, and 3D Typography
Katie Krcmarik

1:45p–2:00p Typeworld: What if Typography Could Play?
Grace Spee

2:00p–2:15p Type in Space: Exploring Interactive, Immersive Experiences with Type, Material,
Space, and Augmented Reality
Megan Irwin & Cat Normoyle

2:15p–2:30p Q+A

2:30p–2:50p Break

RESEARCH, HISTORY, AND IDENTITY

2:50p–3:05p Early Forays in Typeface Selection: Using Research to Find the Right Fit
Joe Galbreath

3:05p–3:15p Design and Illustration: The Ongoing Conversation
Daniel Lee

3:15p–3:25p Queer Type: Experimental Typography and Art Informed by Legacy
Mike Michalski

3:25p–3:40p Q+A

3:40p–4:00p Break

INNOVATIVE PROCESS

4:00p–4:15p Fluorescent Pink and the Blues: A Collaborative Risograph Zine
Charmaine Martinez

4:15p–4:30p The Scroll is the New Page: Teaching Typography for the Brand’s Feed
Jan Ballard

4:30p–4:40p Type(Face) Portrait: A Typographic Exercise
Yasmin Rodriguez

4:40p–4:55p Snow Fences: Typography as Winter Field Work
Peter Fine

4:55p–5:10p Q+A

5:10p–5:15p Closing Remarks

5:15p–6:15p Networking Cocktail Hour at Revolution Hall (Ed Forum attendees only)

6:00p–9:00p Future Fonts & Friends TypeCon Party at Outlet

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PROGRAM

11:45a–12:00p
Opening Remarks
Sharon Oiga & Guy Villa Jr



TYPE DESIGN AND LETTERING

12:00p–12:20p
Sprinting Through Type Design
Andrea Herstowski

How do you guide design students toward creating an original typeface in a 16-week course? In The Typographic Universe, the answer lies in momentum and intentional pacing. The first half of the semester uses short, structured sprints—10–14 day exercises focused on lowercase, uppercase, personality studies, and a short revival. These fast projects emphasize learning by making and sharpen sensitivity to stroke, construction, counterform, and context while building fluency in Glyphs. Students describe the course as an engaging way to understand letterform construction through practical application, training their eyes to recognize features and inconsistencies. Once students develop critical typographic awareness, the course shifts to a longer-form final project: designing an original typeface informed by their exploration and experimentation.

This talk outlines the scaffolding and pacing that build momentum, sharpen observation, and boost student confidence in type design, with a focus on the course’s process.

12:20p–12:35p
What Can Be Letters, What Letters Can Be: Constructed Scripts in the Design Classroom
Maurice Meilleur

“Modular” or constructed lettering and type projects are a staple of type textbooks, and common assignments in introductory-level typography courses. But by introducing more components to these projects—a review of construction methods, in-class exercises, diagramming, and reference research—instructors can connect these projects to the design of formal graphic systems, to critical threads of modernist and postmodern type and typographic design history, and to larger questions about how we recognize writing and represent language and meaning in lettering and typographic forms. In this talk I’ll share what I’ve learned from ten years of assigning and refining these projects in my own typography courses at the introductory and advanced levels, informed by my research into the nature and methods of constructed scripts. And I’ll suggest how you can introduce and enhance these projects in your own studio courses.

12:35p–12:45p
Materiality—Experimental Lettering Techniques in Album Package Design
Emily Carol Burns

This talk will present a beginning typography project I created to introduce experimental typography and lettering techniques to second-year graphic design students. Students are tasked with designing album packaging for an imagined new release of curated songs by an existing artist.

The assignment is centered around hybrid approaches to design, which merge analog and digital techniques and require students to step away from the computer and get messy with methods such as sculpture, painting, collage, stenciling, handwriting and more. The project centers on how materials communicate meaning and how experimentation, play, and the process of making can elevate the work we create. The beauty of spontaneity, accidents, and loss of control are all lessons students take away from this assignment. Projects are required to be type-focused and concept driven.

Additionally, the assignment explores designing three-dimensional packaging, using dielines, and the implementation of visual contrast, unity and variety, sequencing, and type systems. The presentation will feature examples from the past six years of project outcomes, plus behind-the-scenes process images.

12:45p–1:00p
Q+A


1:00p–1:20p
Break


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ANALOG TO DIGITAL

1:20p–1:35p
Tactile Typography: Bringing Physical Type into the Contemporary Classroom
Stephanie Carpenter

Today’s design education often leans heavily on digital tools, but physical engagement with type can create deeper, more lasting learning experiences. I will share practical strategies for integrating hands-on exercises into classrooms, even without access to a traditional print shop. Drawing on years of teaching in college classrooms, experience leading letterpress printing workshops, and working with students of all ages, I will demonstrate how tactile activities can foster a stronger understanding of typography. I will offer adaptable lesson ideas that make use of simple materials, hand-built tools, and collaborative exercises. This session encourages educators and designers to embrace physical making as a way to spark creativity and strengthen typographic skills. Attendees will leave with ideas they can immediately apply to classrooms, workshops, or personal practice, helping inspire new generations of designers to think with their hands as well as their minds.

1:35p–1:45p
Experiments in Type: Digital, 2D, and 3D Typography
Katie Krcmarik

This talk will showcase work from an Experimental Typography class that encourages students to delve into the ever-evolving discipline of typography across digital, 2D, and 3D forms. Typography is a powerful visual language that transcends traditional media and plays a pivotal role in shaping how we communicate, engage, and interact with the world, existing within and beyond the screen. The course prompts students to challenge the boundaries of typography and foster a deeper understanding of the role of type in digital, 2D, and 3D mediums. Emphasis is placed on typographic discovery, experimentation, and innovation, with students developing projects based more on experimentation and process than final product. The presentation will highlight lessons from the course and showcase diverse student creations, including AI experiments, wood carving, and embroidery. It will demonstrate the possibilities for typographic exploration, when students are offered the agency to explore topics of personal interest and set their own learning goals without worrying that experimenting could cost them the desired grade.

1:45p–2:00p
Typeworld: What if Typography Could Play?
Grace Spee

TYPEWORLD is a presentation of physically interactive typography from an undergraduate class at the School of Design, University of Illinois Chicago.

Interactive type is often seen as a digital artifact—something that lives online. TYPEWORLD reimagines this by bringing typography into the physical world. It’s a typographic theme park: a speculative exploration of how type can come alive. I wanted to challenge both my own and my students’ perceptions of interactive type—what it can be and what it can accomplish.

Students used play as a lens to explore unique ways to create type. They were tasked with designing dimensional typography objects that were playable in some way. Students drew inspiration from childhood nostalgia, video games, cultural heritage, language, music, and food. This project also encouraged students to visit the school labs, and allowed students to become familiar with materials such as wood, metal, 3D printing, and thermoplastics.

Finally, students worked to create a game room exhibition at the School of Design’s Winter Show. Faculty, students, and community friends were able to play their typographic objects, bringing our personal TYPEWORLD to life.

2:00p–2:15p
Type in Space: Exploring Interactive, Immersive Experiences with Type, Material, Space, and Augmented Reality
Megan Irwin & Cat Normoyle

This presentation explores how meaning and message intersect with typographic form, place, and technology through a senior design project, Type in Space. In this project, students experimented with conceptual typography for a site-specific installation, integrating multiple points of interaction to engage audiences through both physical and digital spaces. This project was a collaborative effort between two design studios and faculty. In one studio, students selected locations and utilized unconventional materials and processes to create custom letterforms for their physical installation. The other studio focused on building digital environments for use in augmented reality (AR). This multi-course process allowed students to produce experimental, expressive, and engaging experiences across multiple mediums.

Through a range of examples, this presentation will share processes, learnings, and outcomes across physical and digital spaces. These “physdigital” experiences enable users to interact with both digital and physical realms simultaneously. By leveraging the strengths of both mediums, students can expand their concepts through scale, material making, and technological testing.

2:15p–2:30p
Q+A


2:30p–2:50p
Break


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RESEARCH, HISTORY, AND IDENTITY

2:50p–3:05p
Early Forays in Typeface Selection: Using Research to Find the Right Fit
Joe Galbreath

Selecting a typeface can be intimidating for students. Encouraging them to look beyond trendy typefaces or their favorite recent discoveries can be difficult. With so many fonts and styles to choose from, how can students add resonance to a project with smart type choices?

For this project, students create a broadside using text from a poem or short story. Teams are assigned a topic of inquiry to focus their research on, finding a connection from the content to the type. For example, they could examine typographic traditions that extend from the genre of the text. Or they could uncover how the publishing history might illuminate a pathway to a typeface with a historic connection to the writing.

Early exposure to typography feels full of rules, nuance, and esoteric finger-wags. For students, it can appear like there are lots of ways to miss the mark or employ a typeface that won’t hold up to scrutiny. The goal of this project is to choose type deliberately by way of research. Each broadside includes a drop cap and is printed via a Riso printer.

3:05p–3:15p
Design and Illustration: The Ongoing Conversation
Daniel Lee

This talk explores how graduate design education can shift a student’s values from commercial utility toward emotional clarity, critical reflection, and personal transformation. Drawing from my MFA experience at Cranbrook, I’ll share how I reframed design not as a decorative service but as a mode of storytelling, emotional labor, and cultural questioning. Through digital and analog practices like screen printing, aerosol graphics, and illustration, I’ll discuss how failure became a teacher, how sentimental and whimsical themes shaped my creative identity, and how embracing delusion, play, and experimentation redefined my purpose as a designer. This is a call for educators to nurture adaptability, self-authorship, and risk because design is more than making things pretty. It is a lifelong and intimate dialogue with the self and the world.

3:15p–3:25p
Queer Type: Experimental Typography and Art Informed by Legacy
Mike Michalski

Typography is more than form; it is a vessel for connection, memory, and identity. Queer Type explores experimental typographic practices that engage coded symbols of past eras and the art of distance—reframing how queer legacy is carried across time. Through personal narratives and my graduate design research, I examine how typography can move beyond domination toward expressions of emotion, intimacy, and complexity. My work is a search for identity without fear, capturing the nuances of desire through forms informed by historical codes and personal understanding. This presentation invites attendees to see typography as a living archive—where legacy is not static, but a dynamic, evolving space of resistance, longing, and radical possibility.


3:25p–3:40p
Q+A


3:40p–4:00p
Break


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INNOVATIVE PROCESS

4:00p–4:15p
Fluorescent Pink and the Blues: A Collaborative Risograph Zine
Charmaine Martinez

What happens when senior graphic design students are tasked with designing and printing a two-color zine on a Risograph? Chaos ensues as design students learn about color separations, ink, and creating their own BFA exhibition catalog.

In this project, students learned how to balance individual expression with a shared vision for a cohesive publication. This talk presents the journey from digital to analog, from slick to gritty, and from predictable to serendipitous, as students learned to embrace the idiosyncratic nature of the Risograph. The inability of digital tools to prototype Riso prints required students to change their design methods, create numerous iterations, and embrace the limitations of two-color printing. Design constraints kept the project on track and ensured the legibility of informational text, while a variable typeface allowed for experimentation and creativity in display type.

Faculty and student takeaways include strategies for facilitating a collaborative publication, what not to do when setting up files for Riso printing, the importance of InDesign type styles and layers, and the unexpected joy of printing type in fluorescent pink ink.

4:15p–4:30p
The Scroll is the New Page: Teaching Typography for the Brand’s Feed
Jan Ballard

In a media landscape dominated by mobile screens and short attention spans, design educators must teach students to communicate in the spaces where people read, react, and scroll. This presentation explores how typography education can meet the moment—by turning the feed into a design lab and using social media as a platform for typographic storytelling.

In this model, students work within the constraints of client brands to create typographic content tailored for digital platforms. They’re not just learning to “post”—they’re learning to direct attention, set tone, and craft hierarchy. With an emphasis on core fundamentals—legibility, emphasis, rags, leading, contrast, and typographic hierarchy—students design for audiences with defined content, sharpening their ability to deliver clear messages on mobile devices.

4:30p–4:40p
Type(Face) Portrait: A Typographic Exercise
Yasmin Rodriguez

Students create a self-portrait using only glyphs, characters, and symbols of a single typeface. The exercise shifts their focus from the communicative role of type to its visual form—encouraging close observation of letterforms, experimentation with positive and negative space, and a deeper understanding of type anatomy. Working in Illustrator, students select a typeface that reflects their personality and construct their portrait without outlines, effects, or transparency—revealing how expressive and versatile letterforms can be. The project’s structure, outcomes, and student work highlight how self-portrayal and formal limitations foster typographic insight and encourage experimental, creative use of type early in a designer’s education.

4:40p–4:55p
Snow Fences: Typography as Winter Field Work
Peter Fine

Winter is the best 8 months of the year! This talk presents a typo-photo sophomore poster series project. Students conducted their fieldwork photographing snow fences from various angles to record how these interact with the winter geography across the highplains of Wyoming and recording the weather to produce a text. These large, utilitarian structures designed to reduce deadly, winter driving conditions appear as accidental instances of land art, especially where large snowbanks form on their lee side. The students incorporated their text within grid exercises, basically a weather report, repeatedly layering it on top of photos from their field site. After experimenting with dozens of combinations the students printed these on large format watercolor paper. They then soaked these in water and experimented upon them with ink, watercolor, xactos, pencil and pen, and other small hand tools to imitate the material effects of winter weather. This produced a series of experiments in expressive typography admixing analog and digital modes. After scanning these and printing their final poster on large format, backlit media they hung these in the windows of the art building to allow them to act as a natural lightbox.


4:55p–5:10p
Q+A


5:10p–5:15p
Closing Remarks


5:15p–6:15p
Networking Cocktail Hour

Location: Revolution Hall at 1300 SE Stark St #203, Portland, OR 97214
Assembly Lounge (diagonally across the hall from the main entrance of the auditorium)

Event limited to Education Forum attendees only. Your conference badge is required upon entry.

6:00p–9:00p
Future Fonts & Friends TypeCon Party

Location: Outlet
2500 NE Sandy Blvd Ste E, Portland, OR 97232

Your conference badge is required upon entry.

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