In this workshop (on two weekends, December 7-8 and December 14-15) we’ll harness the powerful drawing and typographic capabilities of the free application DrawBot to explore type as form and typographic patternmaking. By analyzing and reconstructing examples of visual poetry and concrete art, we’ll learn important concepts of making patterns with code—including step and repeat, iteration and variation, conditional logic, and randomness—and the basics of looping and phased animation. We’ll also exploit the possibilities of OpenType variable fonts in our creations, and save our work as vector and raster images and motion files. Examples of the artists and designers whose work we’ll look at include: Eugen Gomringer, Armin Hoffman, Dom Sylvester Houédard, Zuzana Licko, Hans-Jörg Mayer, Bridget Riley, Jurriaan Schrofer, Rosemarie Tissi, and Timm Ulrichs. This course is for anyone with a basic knowledge of Python who loves type, patterns, and motion.
Learning Outcomes
- Early intermediate engagement with the Python coding language
- Coding techniques like step and repeat, iteration with variation, conditional logic, and randomness
- Coding and typography
- Familiarity with the OpenType Variable font format
- Familiarity with the DrawBot coding environment and library
- Visual pattern analysis and reconstruction/variation
Required Materials
- A Mac running OS 10.9 (Mavericks) or later
- A fast enough internet connection for video calls
- This class will be held online, so using the Zoom desktop app is recommended
- Participants should have some basic knowledge of the Python coding language; any introductory course or workshop should suffice. Knowledge of DrawBot is useful but absolutely not required.