Practical Typographic Advice and Building an Education Business Alongside a Design Firm with Michael Stinson

Michael Stinson (@MWStinson) is a veteran designer, educator, and business owner. In addition to his work as a professor of graphic design, he also runs Ramp Creative, a branding studio in Los Angeles, as well as Type Ed, a dedicated typographic education business which helps creative pros return to form in the fields of typesetting and layout.

Together in this conversation we unravel some of today’s worst typographic habits, and how to overcome them, share a few tips that all creatives can use to improve their type usage, and discuss some processes for working with clients.

Catch up with Michael on his website, MichaelStinson.com, or through Type Ed.          

 

 Get The Episode

Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 97 (MP3, 52:40, 25.4 MB)

Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 97 (OGG, 52:40, 22 MB)

Subscribe to Get New Episodes

   

Subscribe to The Busy Creator Podcast on iTunes, on Google Play Music, on Android, on iHeart

Sponsor

Freedcamp, the finest free online project management software

Bandwidth for The Busy Creator Podcast is provided by Freedcamp, Group Efforts Made Effortless.

Freedcamp is best free online project management software available. By using the built-in functions and additional tools like time tracking, invoices, milestones, file storage, and more, teams can customise the software for the task at hand! The Busy Creator Podcast itself is managed and operated on Freedcamp. Get started for free on Freedcamp.com

Show Notes & Links

Michael is the first person from Los Angeles to join The Busy Creator Podcast

Ramp Creative handles a lot of variety — digital, print, mobile

Type Ed is an Education Organization, founded 2012

UI/UX design has eroded traditional type study

High School scribbles are largely typography

Michael was taught both ends of the type spectrum — hand lettering and typesetting (3 words or 300)

"I'm not training you to be designers; I'm training you to be Creative Directors some day."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

Phonetics

Whiskey Labels, an underrated technical as well as artistic challenge

"Everyone likes to do logos but wordmarks are extremely challenging."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

Chronicle Books

Typography for Lawyers, great site for anyone, not just lawers

"Designers these days don't like process. They want to jump to making it look good."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

"If you get your process in place, you can design anything."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

Michael is a former Aerospace Engineer; Prescott studied Mechanical Engineering

Prescott — in spite of the hyphen in his last name — doesn’t like to use hyphens in his paragraph text

"Imagine if you're reading War & Peace in all caps — how far would you get?"

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

Milton Glaser’s Bob Dylan poster

Bob Dylan by Milton Glaser

Michael was accepted to study Physics at Berkeley, but received scholarships in Art

"The beauty of graphic design is that it works both sides of the brain."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

Additive & Subtractive Colours

Lithographic printing

Calculus

Ramp Creative is 2 principals and 1 designer

"If you follow the right words the path will take you to the promised land of the visuals."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

Different methodologies — layer cake vs. pay-as-you-go

Lots of Jewish families in New York City worked in the garment industry

"You're an actor, you're a leader, you're an entrepreneur, you're a psychologist, you're a therapist ... all at the same time."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

Building Brands, a Step-By-Step Guide for Creative Pros to Develop Strategy and Design Identity — original eBook by Prescott Perez-Fox

Building Brands eBook

"You're not going to use a crescent wrench for a hammer. Right tool for the right job."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

"Never stop noticing design."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

The most stringest morning routine ever described on The Busy Creator Podcast was that of Michael Bierut

Reading in The Brain by Stanislas Dehaene on Amazon

The Intellectual Devotional by David Kidder & Noah Oppenheim on Amazon and on Audible

"Type isn't all about the characters themselves, it's about the space they take up and the negative space that's left."

—Michael Stinson

Tweet This

Michael defines himself as an introvert

Douglas Davis, another educator to appear as a guest

Cat Rose discussed creative introverts on The Busy Creator Podcast

 Type Ed

 MichaelStinson.com

 RampCreative.com

 Michael Stinson on Twitter

 Michael Stinson on Facebook

 Michael Stinson on Instagram

 Michael Stinson on LinkedIn

 Type Ed on Twitter

 Type Ed on Facebook

Tools

InDesign

Basecamp

Harvest

Techniques

Use Tables in InDesign for grid-based layouts (restaurant menus)

Build type hierarchy from the body copy up (subheads, etc.)

If you’re setting more than 35 words, don’t use All Caps, Italics, Centered

Don’t be afraid to use hyphens, but with discipline. (e.g., don’t use hyphens in the first line)

Don’t use more than 13 words on a line (left-aligned), or 7 words on a line (centered)

Aim for 50-70 characters per line (type size in points x 2 = measure width in picas)

Don’t build websites in Photoshop — it’s not made for layout

Habits

Keep the reader in your mind. Think of them first.

Always take clients through a verbal discovery phase first before visuals

Give your print partners multiple files — flattened, outlined, original files, native links, etc. — make their lives easier

Constantly observe and comment on design around you

Try Audible.com Free for 30-Days

Visit BusyCreatorBook.com for your free trial

Get The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Revive Your Mind by David Kidder & Noah Oppenheim as a free audiobook