From the desk of Mr. Monk

Why I chose Typography for my final year study

About a week ago I had to choose which subject area we wanted to specialise in. I ticked three boxes; graphic design (how specialist!), typography & branding/identity. I guess I kinda suprised myself picking typography. When I was 16 I was dead set on becoming an animator and working for Pixar. By the time I was ready to start consciously choosing universities I knew that I wanted to do a course with some breadth because I really loved graphic design but didn’t want to rule out animation completely.

Well here I am choosing my degree specialism, knowing that I couldnt spend my career animating and knowing whole heartedly that I want to work in graphic design. What’s further is that in year two I have found the driving force behind my passion.

When I got the results of what specialist groups we had been put in Typography. At first I was concerned that I was going to be to narrow, that I’d lost all sense of why I started this course. After some help from the tutor I came round to realizing that everything revolves around type. When I thought back on all the work I had ever done, it became apparent that typography was the way that I worked. I would decide on a face first (likening them to characters, there’s my youhful imagination) then working around it. It even explained why I’d developed such an obsession for type. I didn’t think there was a name for what I had wanted to do. Brilliant.

There are other (just as important) reasons. I’d become tired with advertising. It was repetitive, often seemed fairly immoral and wasn’t afraid to flaunt it. I could have dealt with that but in every module that I’d taken in a mildly advertising role I’d noticed there was very little appreciation for realising ideas. Print was treated as a craft not a skill to be appreciated. That I couldnt take. If always made a point of making pieces I’m proud of and thought that if you have nothing to show then there’s no point. Typography is concerned with skill, if you can’t ‘do’ then you’re stuffed. Erik Spiekermann said to me, “Typography is all about the details.” Sounds right up my street.