Experimental typography in art class in high school

摘要

Typography is a visual component, which we classify into the field of graphic design. It deals with the design of letters, fonts, and texts. Typographic design as an art has developed with Guttenberg’s invention of the press with movable type in the second part of the 15th century. It was based on the rules of calligraphic traditions but it was adapted to the technology of the press and it formed its own set of rules. The 19th century brought about the flourishment of so-called experimental typography, with the help of which fonts were designed in a freer manner for various designer purposes in interaction with the environment they were emerging from (i.e. advertisement posters, circus shows…). Experimental typography is a field of design in which a creative development of designer abilities and a productive visual art is possible. In this master’s thesis, we have researched the use of experimental typography in arts classes in high school. In the theoretical part, we researched the problems pertaining to designing experimental typography and the effects experimental typography has in our everyday lives based on the available literature. An action research has been conducted in the 3rd year of a technical high school in the empiric part of the thesis. With it, we were determining how pupils develop their relation to graphic design and their own artistic creativity with the help of experimental typography. We observed the similarities and differences between the understanding of the pupils before and after introducing the changes. The actions steps were based on an innovative explanation of important guidelines for quality graphic design. After the introduction of the action steps the pupils found quality solutions to the given arts problem in the field of experimental typography. In doing so, they also developed and enriched their imagination, arts thinking, and improved their observational and sensory skills.