Basic Python Programming for Typeface Design

Basic Python for Typeface Design with Ben Kiel

Basic Python for Typeface Design with Ben Kiel

Cost: $485.00

Sat. & Sun., Mar. 28 & 29, 2020, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

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Typeface design has a long tradition of its practitioners creating their own custom tools to aid the design process. The Python programming language is the modern-day equivalent of a punch cutter’s counterpunch. Using Python allows the designer to focus more on the design of a typeface by automating repetitive tasks. In this workshop, students will gain a basic understanding of how to program in Python and how to use those skills in Robofont. In the first part of the workshop, Python and basic programming concepts will be introduced with the use of Drawbot, a Python environment created to teach designers programming. After the core concepts are introduced, the workshop will move to exploring how to apply them as part of the typeface design process in Robofont. At the end, students will have the skills to create their own digital counterpunches.

Required materials:

  • Students will need a laptop with a copy of DrawBot and Robofont installed. No prior programming experience is assumed.

Registration will start on Wednesday, January 8th.

Course Code: 127264

Instructor(s): Ben Kiel

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.