Getting Schooled: TypeParis
Getting Schooled is a new series with interviews from students and alumni of popular type design programs around the world.
This week, and for the first very time on tiptoptypetips, we have a guest writer—everyone, please say hello to
Tiffany recently reached out, generously offering to share her insights and experiences from TypeParis with aspiring type designers and readers of tttt. Inspired by her enthusiasm, I decided to make this a series! We’ll be featuring students and alumni from various type design programs, answering a (similar) set of 10 questions about their journeys before, during, and after their studies. This way, you can compare experiences and gain clarity on which program might be the right fit for you!
So, here’s what Tiffany had to share with us—
1. What motivated you to choose the TypeParis program over other type design programs?
When researching and applying to type design programs, I considered Masters programs, summer programs, and online programs. Based on course information and reaching out to past alumni and teachers of the programs, I applied to Type@Cooper and TypeParis, then chose to attend TypeParis for three reasons:
The appropriate level of expertise needed for the program—Masters programs are generally designed for students with a bit more experience; They sometimes have a few exceptional beginners, but I had to be honest that I wasn’t one.
The long enough, but short summer commitment—Before TypeParis, I took Type Electives’ Foundations of Display Type Design course. It was online, ten weeks long, with class for three hours a week and optional office hours to supplement it. It was a lovely experience and it’s incredible how much we all managed to do in that time period. Juan is an awesome instructor who fostered a supportive and inclusive learning experience. However, I wanted to dive into the subject even further, with a cohort of fully engaged classmates. This meant levelling up to a full-time program. I figured 1.5 months was much shorter than a whole year for a masters degree.
Studying in Paris—I never studied abroad in college, so this seemed like my chance to make up for lost time! The opportunity to learn from French instructors would offer the experience of different pedagogical and typographic approaches. I’d have a cohort of international students to hang out with while studying abroad—Why not‽ On top of that, I was already traveling abroad at the time of the program.
2. What’s your background? Did/How did you prepare before starting the TypeParis program? Any insights you can share about the application process and what got you selected?
After I studied Computer Science and Graphic Design in college, I focused fully on software development for 6.5 years. Like many others, the pandemic caused me to realise life is too short not to do what you love—I packed up all my things, became nomadic, and quit my developer job to travel the world and dive headfirst back into design after the long hiatus.
I read a ton of books, drew more letters, watched a ton of Typographics + ATypi lectures, and took some online classes before deciding that I felt ready to commit to a summer intensive program. There’s so many free/affordable resources available that can get you quite far along. By the time I applied to Type@Cooper and TypeParis, I had a few digitised sketches of typefaces and lettering progjects, but no complete typefaces under my belt. It’s honestly a better use of time to explore a set of glyphs for multiple projects than to throw all of it into making a single typeface project that looks good. Both programs have a history of assembling cohorts that range the gamut of type design experience—Many of my classmates had never designed type before, and some had designed multiple typefaces already with lots of previous type design education experience.
3. Were there any logistical considerations you had to manage before or during the program?
TypeParis is taught entirely in English, but the rest of the summer logistics required a bit of a cultural adjustment. Summer subletting is quite commonplace in cities like NYC or Boston, but in Paris, it is much trickier to find decent short-term housing options for foreigners. Informal peer-to-peer subletting options facilitated over Facebook groups are quite challenging to navigate. Airbnbs for long stays have to be registered for a bail mobilite lease, so they’re limited. I ended up in an Airbnb, but most of my classmates rented through agencies or someone in their network. The language/cultural challenges compound with the timeframe we had to find housing—TypeParis decisions are released at the end of March and the program starts on the first week of June. It’s tough to find summer housing anywhere with only two month’s notice.
Housing aside, the whole thing is an adventure, whether it be learning that it’s rare for French grocery stores to be opened past 8pm (when we’d get out of class), struggling to find cough drops when you inevitably get sick due to lack of sleep (there are no chain pharmacies, and pharmacies really vary on the medicine shop vs skincare shop spectrum), or getting lost on the subway because there are protests or maintenance works shutting down your usual route to school. My French-speaking classmates and Google Translate were plenty of help for all of this!
4. Can you describe your overall experience at TypeParis? What stood out the most for you?
Overall, my experience at TypeParis was challenging and intense, but so incredibly special. They warn you that it will be a lot, and you might think, “It’s only 1.5 months and I’ve survived so many all-nighters in college!” Well, I was wrecked by the end of the program (As in, I didn’t have my voice for five days and got it back just in time for our Final Presentation day.) The instructors care about type design so much and will not let you settle for less—I appreciated their immense expertise and desire to cram as much as possible into the limited time we have together. The team of seven instrutors rotating throughout the sessions meant that we got a lot of feedback and different angles on our projects.
As someone who was relatively rusty at designing, it was also totally overwhelming to take it all in. The instructors adjusted their help and project scope according to differing skillsets in the cohort, but I still needed to self-advocate to make things slightly more manageable. Not every problem I brought up was resolved, but it felt way better to say my piece than to suffer in silence. Sometimes I voiced an issue shared by many of my classmates and the instructors simply had no clue of it. There were also times where there’s just a cultural difference between the instructors and students, and we had to agree to disagree.
The French flair to the design history lessons and archive visits was a really cool part of the experience! But what stood out most had to be my cohort—It’s so magical to be surrounded by type nerds, all with such a wide range of personalities, skills, interests, and backgrounds! We always had a ton of fun between all the work, collaborating on snack stashes, picnics, and problematic glyphs all day long. I’m so proud of everyone’s work. And more importantly, I appreciate all the times my classmates comforted me while I cried, because sometimes it’s all too much to handle by yourself, when you have none of your friends from normal life around. Since TypeParis ended, we’ve had some fun reunions and a group Zoom call, along with keeping up a lively groupchat.
5. What was your favorite project or assignment during the TypeParis program, and why did you enjoy it so much?
We didn’t have different projects during the program. For the first week or so, we did lots of calligraphy and a test-run sketch of a serif typeface. Then, we went all in on our big typeface project of the summer. The scope of the project, in terms of number of masters, glyph set, and italic/sans serif companions, varied largely on each designer’s ambitions. I designed a serif typeface inspired by Rihanna, with weights ranging from Light to Black and a Condensed style (The ridiculous idea came to me in a dream before her iconic Superbowl performance. It also happened to be an excuse to play Umbrella non-stop. I’m grateful that my classmates indulged in many a Umbrella singalong sessions :) It was a bit of a scramble to get all of that done, let alone beginning an italic and reverse-contrast variation of the typeface. But some of my more accomplished classmates somehow managed to do all that AND a sans-serif companion.
6. How would you describe a typical day during your time at TypeParis?
Every day at TypeParis began at 9am, with a morning session that runs until 1pm* and an afternoon session that runs from 4pm to 8pm*. There’s asterisks, because realistically the sessions would run past that most days. The four-hour break between sessions would be time to get lunch and keep working on our projects. As the summer progressed, the proportion of the time spent on work was far greater than lunch. And every now and then we’ll have a field trip to mix things up a bit!
The sessions would often begin with a group crit or an off-the-cuff lecture about a typographic topic (TypeParis does not believe in slideshows). The rest of the time would be focused work sessions of sketching or Glyphs work, where instructors circulate around to advise each person individually. There’s also many unplanned interjection lectures thrown in-between—The instructors prefer to discuss topics as they become relevant to the part of the project that the majority of the class is at a given moment. To be honest, I struggled with this lack of structure and would’ve wished for a program that had more slides/handouts/organised non-verbal material delivery. I brought this up to the instructors—They made an effort to slow down and ask if I had questions to make sure I didn’t get too overwhelmed or lost.
7. How was your interaction with your classmates? What were some of their backgrounds? Was the program designed to be collaborative or individualistic? Do/How do you still keep in touch with your TypeParis classmates?
As I mentioned earlier, my classmates were integral to my experience. I couldn’t have done it without them! Almost all of them were graphic designers already, with several who have designed typefaces before. It surprised me that we all got along so well, given our age ranges (20s–50s) and diverse countries of origin (India, Vietnam, Germany, Australia, France, US, Mexico). Although we had individual projects, it felt very collaborative since the workspace setup is a single studio space full of shared desks. Sometimes people peeled off to work at home or in other available classrooms in the building, but we spent a lot of time together. Even on our days off, one of my wonderful classmates opened up his flat as a shared workspace for everyone to drop by!
8. How did being in Paris enhance your learning experience? Did the city itself contribute to your growth as a type designer? Did any particular moments or places inspire your work?
At our field trips to archives and museums, it was mind-blowing to see calligraphy samples and sketches from great French masters of type design. It’s certainly a history beyond the Baskerville, Bodoni, or major American designers that I’d been previously exposed to. Also, we saw actual Roman columns and other artifacts with Roman inscription capitals in Lyon!
Being in Paris meant learning in a city where the arts are so deeply valued and engrained in everyday life. I’d walk around the city to see so many beautiful old signs and buildings; I’d also see great typefaces on contemporary signage, only to learn that one of our instructors designed the type! There was also so much to do in my time off: a typeface release party, massive art book fairs, museum exhibitions, concerts, and the Fete de la Musique celebration across Paris.
9. What are the key learnings you took away from the program, and how are you applying them in your current work?
All I know is how much I don’t know! Working alongside the seasoned instructors, trying to design a typeface with multiple weights and widths in six weeks, and seeing truly masterful displays of type made me realise that this is truly a craft and labor of love. Everything we did stems from calligraphy and hand sketching; The instructors would always point back to the roots of the craft and literally refused to help me when I tried to cut corners by going straight to digital in my designs. When Glyphs makes type design software feel so intuitive and my regular day-to-day design work operates so digitally, it can feel tedious and unnecessary to invest time in working on pen and paper. My huge pile of tracing paper sketches from TypeParis are a reminder that letters are rooted in handmade forms and drawing is a non-negotiable part of the process. It takes you out of the microscopic view of anchor points and handles to the macro view of going with what just feels right to the eye and hand.
Practically, I now have a better eye for identifying the problem areas of type designs. It’s great for selecting typefaces for projects, and down the line, once I feel like I can handle taking on a type design project again, it’s essential to designing type on my own. Funny enough, 1.5 months of nonstop Glyphs work means that you’ve got the muscle memory, even after a six month hiatus.
10. Do you have any additional thoughts, considerations, advice or suggestions for aspiring students?
If you’re going to spend this much time, money, and energy on a type design intensive like this, make sure you set yourself up for success. Spend enough money to give yourself a comfortable space to rest and work. Save yourself from a ridiculous commute if at all possible. Set firm boundaries of your time to make sure you don’t run yourself into the ground. Remember to have fun and eat good food! Think of what you want to learn/get out of the program to make the most of having amazing resources around you for those six weeks.
And please advocate for what you need, because you are investing too much to settle for a sub-par experience.
All this said, there’s a lot of avenues to learning that don’t involve such a major commitment. Type design summer school is a really cool experience, but do your homework to see if it’s the right fit for you. I discovered that I’m more interested in learning about type academically than experientially, so books, lectures, and a program like the research fellowship at ANRT Nancy might be a better fit for my next type design education endeavour. Or a course with a narrower focus on font engineering or a specific script.
I’d love to give a shoutout to Aline Kaori, Keya Vadgama, and Juan Villanueva for their generous advice and many answers to my questions regarding type design educational experiences. I’d love to do the same for others, so do not hesitate to reach out with any questions!
If you have further questions, or would like to get in touch with Tiffany directly, drop her message on Substack at
The 2024 TypeParis program is currently underway—today’s actually their first day. So if you’re interested in next year’s program, keep an eye out on their website.
Getting Schooled will be an ongoing series amongst other typical issues of tttt. Stay tuned for next week’s issue where we dive into the nitty gritty of font licensing. After that, we’ll have my issue of Getting Schooled where I share my experience at Type@Cooper.
What are some other schools, programs (short-term, masters, online or others) or courses you’re interested in learning more about? Are they other questions you’d like us to help answer?
Let me know in the comments, or send me an email.
Thank you for reading tiptoptypetips, and happy Pride!
🌈 Sneha.