How might our worldviews have been affected by the aesthetic rules around us? What happens when we question the design canon we’ve been taught in school or asked to uphold in our careers? How might a new or deepened understanding of Black, Indigenous, and queer histories of type influence our creative practices? Why must intersectional design replace myopic modes in a rapidly changing world?

Provoking Type is a 5-week course that invites participants to take a critical & decolonial lens to type and its role in history, culture, technology, power structures, and identity to explore and reimagine the narratives, contexts, and futures of type. Instructor Schessa Garbutt and guest lecturers offer their critical perspectives on type as a tool and medium, centering BIPOC and othered histories, research methods, and intellectual mirrors while examining classic eurocentric, patriarchal, and capitalist views of the craft.

There is a diverse world of type tools, systems, theories, and histories worth exploring for creatives who are ready to deepen their practices and update their personal canons.

Plainly, this class is for creative folks with ideas about how they want to get into good trouble with type, and use their design powers to affect positive change in the world.

Audience and Format

This course will be taught via Zoom and Slack, meeting weekly online. Creatives of all backgrounds and experience levels are encouraged to apply. This class is for those looking to expand their personal canons around type and design while challenging internalized notions of what type is and what their design practice can be.

Each week, students will read a text or write reflections related to the upcoming lecture. Throughout the course, students are expected to actively contribute to class conversations and knowledge building. Students can also participate in optional office hours with the Instructor to deepen their understanding of course materials and lectures.

Goals

• Collectively create a critical thinking framework for discourse around type
• Strengthen our ability to articulate and elaborate on the contemporary challenges/desires/ideas we have about type and design
• Clarify and embody our personal praxes (reflection, theory, action) to guide our future creative work
• Co-create a learning environment that de-centers eurocentric perspectives & pedagogy

Learning Outcomes

• Learn frameworks for thinking critically in relation to type and the design field at large
• Learn how to understand our own positionalities and question our biases as designers & non-neutral actors in the world
• Build skills in writing about, articulating, and pursuing a decolonial type & design practice
• Deepen knowledge in type & design histories of the global majority

Material Requirements

• A reliable internet connection
• A device capable of Zoom and Slack apps
• A free Zoom Account
• A free Slack account (an invitation to a class group will be sent to each participant)

Scholarship Information

Scholarship seats are available for this course. Please check out more details on the scholarship page. This scholarship is open to all Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, with priority given to those who have limited resources or access to educational opportunities.