Plenty of people are interested in the art of typography, so guides and written instructions are a dime a dozen. But as with most design and creative ventures, there is something more explanatory in movement. Watching someone making typography or using programs such as Photoshop to make new fonts is a great way to learn in a more direct way.

With the introduction of YouTube and other online video upload sites, it is easier than ever to make, browse and share these typography movies. If you are looking for a basic introduction to this craft, you will love these 10 clips.

1. Typography School

London College of Printing Professor David Dabner talks about typography and the process of font creation in this short film by Omair Barkatulla.

It is made in the style of an old wartime propaganda or health film, and it shows how letterface is handled in a traditional printing press. Very informative, and a great introduction to classic styles of typography.

2. A Typography Lesson

What is typography? The Vancouver Film School created this small clip to both explain and illustrate the answer to that question. The lettering in this video is gorgeous, and the colors are an interesting mesh of pallettes that any artist would love to see.

It also gives a breakdown of font, such as expaining the different between serif and sans serif, x-height and other crucial elements of typographic creation.

3. The Basics of Typography

The film creator, Kate, made this video to give a basic definition lesson to fellow design students, based off of what she was tested on in her own college class.

She analyzes letter forms by reading over images, set to a relaxing, classical music score. She makes a few mistakes in reading her script, but the information is sound and well explained.

4. Typography Lesson

Dawn Jacobs made this video to be a brief, but complete introduction to the description and purpose of typography.

She gives a good breakdown of the anatomy of type, as well as several real-life examples to explain the basic principles of letterface. Her portion on mood settings fonts is especially good, because she shows several different fonts.

5. An Introduction to Typography

Another 1950s-inspired education film, this one was also made as a college project after the student was given the prompt “grid.” That, of course, relates to the layout used on a page to keep everything straight

This one was adorable and funny to watch. She got her family involved, and even used costumes. Cheesy, but cute and it gets the point across.

6. An Intro to Typography

Karen Kavett is a popular and experienced video blogger who has dedicated many recording to design concepts. She is the very definition of Geek Chic, and her videos are always funny and enjoyable.

In her typography intro, she goes around the city and points out different parts of lettering, dissecting the anatomy for us. She also teaches us about classification. I would suggest subscribing to her YouTube Channel — she has a lot to offer.

7. Anatomy of Type

Stylized, interesting, informative and set to a great song, you will be happy to get stuck in the middle with this video. (See what I did there? Don’t shoot me, please.) This is one of my favorite typography videos, as they managed to teach in a very short amount of time, while offering something different than the usual educational video fare.

8. History of Typography

This one isn’t that useful, and it doesn’t really teach anything. But it is a really cool, and set to Daft Punk, so I wanted to include it. You get an awesome animation of letters being turned into one another using first old and then modern tools. It gives you a basic look at how lettering was created in the past versus today.

9. Typography 1

This was the first of an entire series of graphic design lessons, several of them dedicated to typography by YouTube user TheTurtleRat. It was a great breakdown that covered all of the basics necessary for a good intro, all in a bit over seven minutes. This guy has been in the game for a long time, so his videos are worth a look.

10. Typography

Think of this one as an inspirational video for font freaks. If you want a nice slideshow of gorgeous typography, much of it strange and unique, you will like this. They wanted to show what typography was just through examples and not explanation. Very interesting and definitely inspiring.

Author bio

Jennifer Moline is a writer for PsPrint Blog. She has been writing about marketing, graphic design, freelancing, small business and printing for numerous years. PsPrint provides custom calendar printing services and can be found on Twitter as @PsPrint