From the Lettering to the Font
A course by Type-Ø-TonesTypography designers
A course by Type-Ø-Tones, Typography designers
Create your own alphabet based on a found lettering
Many of the signs that we find on the street or in the advertising of yesteryear and that fascinate us are those that are well drawn, originally by hand. And it is because they underlie a coherent application of basic rules essential for design of letters and that determine their structure, appearance and the relationship between them.
In this course, with the typographers Josema Urós and Laura Meseguer (Type-Ø-Tones), you will learn to analyze "found" labels, deconstruct them and create new characters to generate your own labels, marks or even a complete alphabet.
What will you learn in this online course?
18 lessons & 6 downloads
Production flow
3 minutes, 27 seconds
Vertical metric
1 minute, 46 seconds
Basic forms and interior space
2 minutes, 31 seconds
Optical systems, parts and components
4 minutes, 59 seconds
Sketching by contour 1
18 minutes, 37 seconds
Sketching by contour 2
14 minutes, 58 seconds
What's included in this course?
You will start discovering the work of Laura and Josema, their work environment, the tools necessary to carry out the course and how to use them.
Next, you will learn the basic principles of alphabets design using the label as one of the possible sources of inspiration for type design. In this review by the methodology of the letters you will know the flow of production, the vertical metric, the basic forms, the interior space and the optical adjustments.
Later you will make the analog sketching of your own alphabet by contour. Once you have it digitized, you will take it to Illustrator to turn it into vectorial drawing.
To finish you will learn how to draw unique or special characters, create uppercase and give the final adjustments to your final project.
Recommended software & tools for this course
What is this course's project?
You will develop a keyword from which you can design the rest of the characters of your alphabet. Traditionally Hamburg has been used and some derivatives, Hamburgefonts, Hamburgevons and Hamburgefontsiv, but the challenge is to find yours.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
To anyone who is curious to know how typographies and graphic design students are designed to have an interest in understanding how the architecture of the letter is.
Requirements and materials
For the analog part you will need mechanical pencils, soft pencil, eraser and onion paper. For the digital part, a computer with a vector drawing software installed.
It is essential to know how to draw by hand and have knowledge of vector drawing.
Reviews
- 1 year ago
it would have been superb if the course had an English audio translation
- 1 year ago
If there were English audio, it would be very helpful for me to learn this course.
- 1 year ago
Muy bueno
- 2 years ago
Very informative and easy to follow!
- 2 years ago
El curso está muy bien explicado. Sin embargo, me gustaría que lo actualizasen y quizás que contemplen más situaciones ej.: Que pasa si el rótulo elegido no tiene descendentes, o ascendentes, o como determinar que tipo de modificaciones le haremos a la letra de la que partimos. De cualquier manera el curso esta muy bien y es un gran punto de partida para diseñar tipografias.
Born in Barcelona in 1956, a city that loves and tries not to leave more than two weeks ... every two years.
He began his career as a programmer in the eighties and in 1988 he began to work with numerous design and advertising studios.
In 1992, he established a close relationship with Estudio Mariscal, in charge of typographical projects and editorial design. From 1993 he teaches Design and Typography courses in Eina, Elisava, ESDI and IDEP.
His with the fonts EbuScript, Matricia, Vulcano, Memimas, Ginebra, Joost, Optica, Reload, Solida, Arboria and Arbotek.
Parallel to his work as a designer, he develops a fruitful musical career playing with artists and bands such as Bootunoo, New Buildings, MCW, La Fura dels Baus, Leo Mariño, Josep Giménez, Elements, Pangrams, Adrián Morales or Unoma and Altaba / Samsó / Urós , among others. His last performances have been with the GRUS group.
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Laura Meseguer is a graphic designer, typist and freelance typeface designer. He lives and works in Barcelona and in his studio he develops editorial design projects, as well as lettering and customized typography.
In 2003 he studied the KABK Master's Degree and Media in The Hague. His final work, the Rumba typeface, is selected in 2005 by the TDC in the TypeDesign Competition. As author, she publishes the book "TypoMag, typography in magazines" and in 2012 "How to create typographies, from the sketch to the screen" of Type e, which is co-authored by Cristóbal Henestrosa and José Scaglione.
Meseguer has participated in exhibitions and conferences at an international level and teaches typography classes at schools such as Elisava and Eina.
She is the author of the alphabets such as Cortada, Frankie, Rumba, Guapa, Magasin, Lalola and Multi.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Who we are and course objectives
- Our influences: examples of alphabets extracted from "lettering"
- U2
Basic principles of the design of alphabets
- Production flow
- Vertical metric
- Basic forms and interior space
- Optical systems, parts and components
- U3
Analogue sketching and preparation to digitize
- Sketching by contour 1
- Sketching by contour 2
- U4
Vector drawing
- Prepare the document in Illustrator
- Drawing by parts
- Drawing the first series
- Drawing of the derived characters 1
- Drawing of the derived characters 2
- U5
Complete the project and ... beyond!
- Drawing of 'unique' or 'special' characters
- Capital letters
- Fine adjustments. Space, print and correct
- The spacing
- Complete the alphabet?
- FP
Final project
- From the Label to the Typography
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FAQs
You’ll learn to create custom alphabets, analyze urban references, develop characters with decorative elements, and apply optical adjustments and metrics to ensure consistency and readability in typographic projects—from hand sketching to professional digitalization.
The course is aimed at people with basic design knowledge who want to deepen their skills in intermediate-level typographic and lettering creation processes, including manual techniques, optical adjustments, and digitizing.
You’ll need paper, pencil, tracing paper or onion skin, a scanner or camera to digitize sketches, and access to Adobe Illustrator or similar vector software for digitizing and refining characters.
The course teaches hand sketching, using tracing paper, scanning originals, vectorizing in Illustrator, organizing layers, and adjusting geometric shapes and typographic proportions.
You’ll learn how to analyze and extract distinctive features from urban signs and plaques in Barcelona to inspire and support the design of custom alphabets and typographic systems.
The course explains how to spot and fix visual imperfections through optical adjustments in proportions, overshoots, stroke weights, and spacing, enhancing harmony and legibility of the alphabet.
Yes, you’ll study structural differences, contrast, and adjustment needs between serif and sans serif typefaces, applying specific design criteria depending on the chosen style.