Top Typography and Design Schools

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Are you, or is anyone you know considering a career in typography or design? Or are you already a working designer, and are considering going back to school? While many schools have strong design departments with various classes in typography, it can be time-consuming and confusing to research and compare them all. We have done the preliminary research for you, and have selected some of the best that offer undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs.

TYPOGRAPHY

University of Reading, Reading, England
MA in Typeface Design

This program includes a signi?cant practical element, providing students with the skills to design and produce their own typefaces. Students are provided with a thorough grounding in principles and methods through studying historical and theoretical issues of typeface design. They work on the design of an original typeface family and develop OpenType fonts to a standard equivalent to commercial products.

Course work is taught by a core team of departmental staff that is complemented by an international range of visiting professionals and academics. In the past these have included Victor Gaultney, Thomas Phinney, Sumner Stone, Peter Bil’ak, Frantisek Storm, Albert-Jan Pool, Fred Smeijers, John Downer, and others. Most classes are taught in small groups in an informal and relaxed environment.

University of Reading

University of Reading

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands
Master of Design Type and Media

In 2002, the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague started its post-graduate course in Type and Media, formerly the course in Type Design and Typography. It is a full-time one year course that gives participants the possibility of delving deeper in type design for different media: not only type for print, but also for film, television, video and interactive media.

At Type and Media, students work intensively in small groups of twelve or fewer. They work under the guidance of expert and enthusiastic teachers from the permanent and visiting faculty. The many aspects of type design in relation to typography for different media are covered in various assignments. Discussions with leading type designers, typographers and graphic designers – each with different views – provide theoretical depth.

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague

The Cooper Union, Type @ Cooper, New York
Postgraduate Certi?cate in Typeface Design

Top industry professionals lead a highly focused and comprehensive study of key typeface design principles: technique, technology, aesthetics, expression, history, and theory. Students explore the foundation of typography in depth by creating their own typefaces in hands-on classes, while developing a broad understanding of the ?eld through lectures, discussions, and research. Electives are offered each term, focusing on topics such as pen and brush lettering, Python programming, and advanced tools for font development. A series of guest lectures round out the curriculum, allowing students deeper insight into speci?c relevant topics. Participants leave the program with the specialized skills to design professional-quality digital typefaces and lettering.

Sumner Stone reviewing a student’s work at Type@Cooper.

Sumner Stone reviewing a student’s work at Type@Cooper.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York

SVA is a multidisciplinary college of art and design known for its unparalleled faculty and innovative curriculum. They offer the BFA, MFA, MA, MAT and MPS degrees. The Design program focuses on teaching visual communication problem solving, a skill that can open the door to a host of rewarding careers. Their program is a multidisciplinary educational system in itself, offering three separate majors that include Graphic Design, Motion Graphics and 3D Design.

In addition to a distinguished faculty, SVA offers a wide range of course options that are tailored to each student’s strengths and needs. This gives students the opportunity to develop their own vision, making the entire educational experience particularly empowering. Of the three disciplines that students can major in, each of these areas can be further re?ned, giving students more possibilities to ?nd their niche. For example, graphic design can be further subdivided into package design, editorial design, information graphics, corporate identity, publication design, CD packaging, book jacket design, environmental design, and website design.

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Rhode Island

Founded in 1877, Rhode Island School of Design (or “RIZ-dee” for the acronym RISD) is one of the oldest and best-known colleges of art and design in the U.S. Each year approximately 2,300 students from around the world pursue a creative, studio-based education at RISD, which offers rigorous bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in 19 architecture, design, ?ne arts and art education majors. The college is located in Providence, Rhode Island, which offers its own vibrant art scene and is conveniently located between two other major cultural centers: Boston and New York.

Rich, multifaceted and encompassing a broad range of media, graphic design at RISD respects the foundations of formal, aesthetic and analytical knowledge and skills while exploring the ever-changing context and function of visual communication. In the studio students learn the fundamental value of typography, imagery, grids, systems and more in the course of creating everything from traditional books, posters, logos and websites to apps, interactive texts and other digital media.

RISD

RISD

Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan

For more than 75 years, Cranbrook Academy of Art has been one of the nation’s leading graduate schools of art, architecture, and design. The Academy offers graduate study for a Master’s Degree in 10 departments, including 2D Design, 3D Design and Print Media.

The Academy is very distinctive. They offer an intense studio-based experience where artists-in-residence mentor students in architecture, art, and design to creatively in?uence contemporary culture. They don’t have set curricula, required classes, or prerequisites, but offer something entirely different: a graduate-only program designed speci?cally to support individual exploration and mentoring. Departmental activities provide the central structure for students. Each department follows its own rotation of critiques, reading and discussion groups, student presentations, travel, and visits with guest artists and critics.

Cranbrook Academy of Art

Cranbrook Academy of Art

Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia

SCAD’s graphic design degrees include BA, BFA, MA, and MFA. Graphic design students at SCAD become ?uent in the visual language that de?nes today’s powerhouse brands and top-?ight organizations. Their holistic graphic design degree program doesn’t just cover the fundamentals fundamentals of design, it delves into product packaging, entrepreneurship, mobile technology, interface design and user experience.

At SCAD, students learn to ?ourish in an industry that is integral to every aspect of business, from branding to visual marketing, interactive media to multi-platform campaigns. Pursuing a graphic design degree at SCAD gives access to phenomenal resources, extraordinary faculty and major industry players. Well-known designers from all over the world journey to SCAD to speak and interact with students.

Tyler School of Art at Temple, Pennsylvania

Tyler offers BFA and MFA programs in Graphic and Interactive Design. Their design students learn how to develop design concepts, to make images, to work with typography and to master a wide range of new and traditional media. The program, known for its rigor, is extremely competitive. Students are trained to handle every phase of the design process, from concept development to ?nished product. The curriculum stresses creative thinking and professional discipline, preparing undergraduates to take advantage of the many and varied opportunities within the ?eld of design

Tyler’s MFA program in Graphic & Interactive Design [GAID] is an intensive two-year immersion in the practice of design. The program emphasizes the role of designer as author and entrepreneur, with students de?ning the content and form of large-scale, semester-long projects in a wide variety of forms such as books, posters, folios, games, clocks, wearable design, interactive narrative, web sites and environmental design. Extensive research, writing, image-making and editing, as well as exploration of form and technique, are integral to the process.

The New School / Parsons School of Design, New York

Parsons School of Design has offered students innovative approaches to education since its founding in 1896. Their undergraduate and graduate programs offering BA/BFA and MA/MFA degrees immerse students in focused training, interdisciplinary inquiry, and practice-based collaborative learning. Here creators and scholars master established art and design ?elds and advance emerging ones while studying a range of university disciplines.

Parsons’ focus is on creativity, innovation, and a desire to challenge the status quo, both in what and how we teach and in the intellectual ambitions of the School itself. Their 1,200+ faculty members represent a broad range of expertise and are acknowledged as leading practitioners and scholars in their ?elds. Students learn to apply the transformative capacity of design responsibly, creatively, and purposefully. The Parsons community challenges conventional thinking, fostering environmental and social sustainability through thoughtfully conceived buildings, policies, artworks, garments, and digital designs that demonstrate art and design’s enduring relevance.

Parsons School of Design

Parsons School of Design

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, New York State

At RIT, graphic design students are exposed to a full range of topics including information design, web and interaction design, branding and identity design, design systems, exhibit and wayfinding design, user experience design, and professional practices. Students gain the knowledge and skills to create innovative and effective design solutions for a wide range of media and audiences, with a balance of history, theory, conceptual exploration, applied problems, human interaction, and integration of technology. Students have access to their world-renowned Vignelli Center for Design Studies, and Cary Graphic Design Archive and Cary Library, enabling them to further enhance learning and inquiry. RIT offers BFA and MFA degrees.

RIT

RIT

Here are other notable schools for design:

Cooper Union (CU), New York City

Pratt Institute, New York City

Syracuse University School of Design, New York City

Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), Massachusetts

Yale School of Art, Connecticut

Carnegie Mellon School of Design (CMU), Pennsylvania

Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Maryland

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU Arts), Virginia

Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida

Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD), Minnesota

University of Cincinnati, School of Design, Ohio

Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas

California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), California

Otis College of Art and Design, California

ArtCenter, California

Ilene Strizver is a noted typographic educator, author, designer and founder of The Type Studio in Westport, Connecticut. Her book, Type Rules! The designer’s guide to professional typography, is now in its 4th edition.
  • Marie says:

    Are there none of note in Canada?

    • Marie, feel free to mention any schools in Canada (or anywhere else) that you would like to add to this list. I kept the design schools to those in the US as I am most familiar with these schools, and expanding the list internationally would make it a much longer article that this blog could accommodate. Ilene

  • Patrick says:

    I would also add the University of Washington to your list of state schools. Great program. Highly regarded faculty. Karen Cheng’s book ‘Designing Type’ is one of the best typography books in the last 10 years.

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