⏰ Do Now — Start Here
What do you already know about fonts or lettering? Have you ever picked a font for a project before?
🎯 Today's Big Question
- What makes type readable, and how does color create a first impression?
📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To
- Define typeface, font, kerning, and leading.
- Explain why designers avoid low-contrast type and certain "unprofessional" fonts.
- Build a simple analog color wheel and identify warm, cool, and complementary colors.
🧰 What You'll Need
- Printed type samples (good and bad contrast/legibility examples)
- Blank color wheel template (paper)
- Crayons or colored pencils (primary + secondary colors)
- Hand-lettering practice sheet
📋 Your Plan for Today
Day 1: Typography Basics
- Do Now + discussion (5 min).
- Mini-lesson (15 min): typeface vs. font, kerning, leading, serif vs. sans-serif -- with printed good/bad readability examples. Rule to remember: type exists to be read, not just to look fancy (never sacrifice legibility for style).
- Hand-lettering practice (15 min): write your name or a short word in 2 very different letter styles. Share + quick vocab check (10 min).
Day 2: Color Basics
- Do Now (5 min): what's the difference between a typeface and a font? Mini-lesson (12 min): color basics -- warm vs. cool, complementary pairs, and why color is often a design's first impression.
- Color wheel activity (20 min): color in a blank color wheel template and label warm/cool/complementary pairs.
- Exit ticket (8 min).
🖨️ Print Your Handout
Word, picture, and definition for today's vocabulary, plus a place to write and draw. Available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Chinese.
📚 Key Words
- Typeface / Font
- A typeface is a family of letter designs (like Helvetica); a font is a specific style/weight/size within that family.
- Kerning
- The spacing adjustment between individual letters.
- Leading
- The vertical spacing between lines of text.
- Serif / Sans-Serif
- Serif fonts have small decorative strokes at the ends of letters; sans-serif fonts do not.
- Complementary Colors
- Colors opposite each other on the color wheel that create strong contrast when paired.
- Analogous Colors
- A group of 3 colors sitting next to each other on the color wheel -- naturally harmonious together.
- Monochromatic
- A color scheme built from a single color, varied only by tint (adding white) or tone (adding gray/black).
- Tertiary Colors
- A color made by mixing a primary color with a neighboring secondary color (e.g. red-orange).
✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include
Color wheel and hand-lettering samples collected; a 3-question check on typography vocabulary.
Exit Ticket: Name one "rule" about type or color from today, and explain what could go wrong if a designer ignores it.
📊 Before You Leave
Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.
🎓 ACP Exam Prep
This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 1: Working in the Design Industry
🔗 Want to Learn More?
🚀 The Extra Mile
Cross-Class Connection: Color psychology overlaps directly with a Psychology or Social Studies unit on perception and persuasion.
Career Connection: Typography and color are the first skills tested on the ACP exam and the daily bread of Illustration and Fashion Design alike.
Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:
- Design a book cover or album cover mockup for a book or album you love, choosing type and color on purpose, not by default. Start here: pick your title and jot down three mood words for it before you choose a single typeface or color.
- Build a small "color mood board" for a school club's brand, with a one-paragraph explanation of why each color was chosen. Start here: pick four to five colors max in the Swatches panel before you add a single word of text.