Hand Lettered Script for Logos & Titles

This is Australia’s only Script Lettering Class that teaches the amazing process that you need to step up out of the play pen and learn how to tailor precise professional Lettering for specific Logos, Packaging, Editorial Work, Signage, and Brands. You won’t be able to glean its special secrets in any other class, or graphic design program, nor in any calligraphy society in Australia. This is for people who want to level up with their lettering and get serious.

What is Lettering?

Lettering is different to calligraphy but does stem from calligraphy. Calligraphy itself is “beautiful writing”, that depends on bodily gesture and skill in nailing a stroke in one shot. Lettering, however, is very much about design itself and involves drawing a word carefully in pencil, then using an eraser and layers of tracing paper to edit and refine the wordmark until it sings. It can then be vectorized if you wish. Lettering is very much about designing and adapting the style of the letters and the way they sit together, while calligraphers often work in a more automated fashion without altering and tailoring the look of their letters as do letterers.Most of the magazines, movie titles and book cover titles from pre-1970 were hand-lettered in Graphic Arts departments by highly accomplished lettering artists in a process that required a sensitive and refined eye that had been trained using the process you will learn in this class.

About the Course

This course goes for a full Saturday and Sunday, and is a comprehensive and structured typographic learning experience, carefully designed for incremental higher order learning, offered by Australia’s most qualified, highly knowledgeable type and lettering educator and expert in slow typographics – Veronica Grow. This unique style of learning is about providing vision as well as a skill.

The course is broken down into hree separate modules, each with an in-depth expertly prepared lecture packed full of visuals that explain key techniques, and linking ideas, and do’s and don’ts, each devised to step students through a series of hands-on exercises. There are comprehensive lettering demonstrations sharing key techniques beamed onto a screen for a shared learning experience.

Why Learn Script Lettering?

Script Lettering is useful and something you don’t get to learn in design School or anywhere else. Being so expressive, it is the best way to communicate quality, and luxury! For typographers and type designers, script lettering builds excellent skill, teaching you to eyeball your type and troubleshoot for spacing, alignment, and shape. (foundational for type design) Once you have the technique, you can take it in any stylistic direction that you prefer. Informal, formal, 70’s psychadellic, are just a few ideas ! If you are a calligrapher, script lettering helps you to look critically at your copperplate and make better decisions about x height, spacing and letter proportion. This will help you to be a much better calligrapher.

Script Lettering is useful for Customised Logos, Book Titles, Editorial work. For calligraphers and sign painters, it is great for customizing personal inscriptions, signage. The list is endless.

This Course Covers:

Day One

Module One – The Foundation

Starts with a fascinating and beautiful overhead presentation overview of the history of script packed with stunning examples, which are essential for you to understand traditional script. This starts in 1500’s through to 1970’s, covering the greats from the 1950’s golden ages of .lettering. It provides a comprehensive letterform construction analysis of drawn script, breaking down spacing, shapes, and essential form and strokes of this lettering process. After a demonstration, students will then put this into practice when they create their first piece of lettering. This knowledge is essential for module two and three.

Module Two Flourishing

The afternoon commences with a formal lecture that explains the difference between formal and informal script and also the essential grammar of flourishing including cartouche flourishing. Flourishing is actually a science and study of structure and space and is a very useful way to sharpen typographic skills. If you are a calligrapher, this will be immeasurably helpful to beautifying your work. Students receive their second manual, titled Flourishing Fluency, to back up the key information from the lecture. The manual contains a comprehensive visual guide including flourishing templates and many useful tricks for word flourishing.Students will complete their second lettered word, which is a flourished word.

Day Two

Module Three

Module three commences with a third lecture/presentation that shares models of 20th Century Advertising Spencerian, Italian Spencerian, 17th Century Ornamental Penmanship and 19th Century American Penmanship, as well as the lettering from the legendary 1970’s new York Design Studio of Lubalin Burnes and Co. which demonstrates different methods of altering and adapting basic script into exciting styles of lettering such as Spencerian, Italian Spencerian, and the very popular 1970’s Herb Luballinesque psychedelic lettering ! (so cool and on trend now) The presentation also introduces students to the inspiring work of some of the world’s leading script lettering artists such as Ricardo Rousselot.

Students will receive their third manual booklet packed with interesting and creative exemplars that they need to create exciting work, and then go on to design their own creative wordmark that draws on a technique of their choice. This could be traditional or highly experimental.

Who this is for

Graphic Designers who need to creat arresting logos, titles, and signage. Also great to incorporate with photography for editorial work, and packaging projects.

Signwriters, or people who create signage (especially those creating wedding signage), This skill will give your sign titles an amazing professional edge that simple calligraphy skills cannot.

Calligraphers – lettering helps you to better understand your calligraphic forms. You will be a better calligrapher for sure !

Illustrators. Script Lettering integrates well with illustrations.

The option to complete day one only is available, although we do recommend that investing the time into completing both days to be highly worthwhile.