Font games in typography education: Typewar

Abstract

Typography is an area of expertise that focuses on artistic and design-based features and production technologies of all printed scripts. Although typography is an important element of many design branches, it is primarily one of the basic courses of Communication Design, Visual Communication Design, and Graphic Design departments. Current education methods are outdated and boring for the young target audience who got used to a lifestyle full of computers and mobile devices. Digital games are important means used in educational environments thanks to computer technologies. In 2017-2018 Academic Year’s Fall Semester, 20 students from Graphic Design and Communication Design Departments who took Typography I course was made to play "typewar" game and the results of the games were recorded and the success of the students in recognizing the writing types in this game was measured. The typewar game was preferred in order to teach students "the anatomical structures of the whole alphabet by introducing serif and non-serif fonts" as a purpose of the course. In the research, it was observed that there was a difference in the number of the font types that students can remember and distinguish between classical methods and typewar game. In the survey made after the game, students’ opinion on the use of games in typography education was taken.