Over the 5 years we’ve offered Latin Two, we’ve had the privilege of working with numerous types of students, all with unique backgrounds and motivations. Some are self-taught, and on the other end some have the same level of academic training as the lead instructors. Some want to become professional typeface designers, some are already professional type designers, and others just want to study a subject that fascinates them. This level of variance in student skill and motivation works because we spend a significant amount of time on personalized instruction via feedback sessions.

The level of Latin Two is best described as “working toward intermediate” or “intermediate”. Most students are working their way from “advanced beginner”, to “intermediate” by the end of the course. A few will be touching “advanced” if they came in with a strong skill set. If you are unsure whether you’re ready for Latin Two, we suggest taking a look at the Latin One page. If all the content of that course feels very familiar to you, then start at Latin Two. See also → Do I need to take Latin One before taking Latin Two?

Lastly, while we understand not everyone who attends Latin Two wants to become a professional type designer, it is taught from that perspective. Students attending can expect a rigorous (but compassionate) level of instruction from type designers working in the industry. If you’ve ever been curious about type design at a professional level, this course is for you!

In our experience, a majority of people interested in taking Latin Two would benefit from taking Latin One before. The exception is students who have received significant formal training in type design (instruction beyond introductory courses) or an equivalent level of professional experience.

Yes! You’ll spend 16 weeks expanding a typeface you started outside of the program and practical experience is an important component for your individual advancement. Keep in mind the typeface doesn’t have to be fully formed or in a finished state when you apply. See → How far along does my typeface have to be to apply to the program?

Text, display, connected script, experimental, sans serif, serif — bring whatever you’re excited to work on.

You’ll get more out of the program if you work on a typeface with upper- and lowercase characters. So, start adding a lowercase to your upper and join us!

The typeface you bring is your starting point. We don’t expect you to show up with a finished piece of work, but you should be past the ideation phase and have a strong direction in place. At a minimum, you’ll need a single weight in progress with a basic character set. The definition of “basic character set” depends on the style of font, but it is likely most of the lowercase and some uppercase. If you have more, that’s great!

We recommend committing a minimum of six hours per week to work outside of class and that might include readings.

All demonstrations using a font editor will be conducted in Glyphs. Many of the concepts are universal (like drawing or spacing) and will easily translate from one font editor to the next. There is a lot to learn that is independent of a font editor. Although any font editor is welcome, just know that some content is Glyphs-specific and our primary fluency is with Glyphs. If you are interested in trying Glyphs, you can opt to use the trial license that comes free with the course.