Abstract
This paper explores how comics can be a potential tool for teaching the basics of typography to enhance student involvement. A typical class takes students through the fundamentals, guidelines, and classifications. The question arises- is there a way to make typography education more captivating? Being constantly bombarded with advertisements, it makes people furious to read for leisure. As a result, it is challenging to read lengthy theoretical text and more so to retain it for a long-term. Typography, too, is perceived as a technical and theoretical subject and it becomes vigorous to read and understand theories. Comics can cover diverse genres such as action, adventure, science, fantasy, history and politics, that help deconstruct complex issues. This makes readers culturally aware and promotes understanding of different backgrounds. Comics present facts informally that make learning more enjoyable for visual learners with elements that help break the monotony over lengthy text. The integration of comics into education tries to make typography more accessible with the help of 20 students from the elective typography class who were asked to study various topics such as letterpress printing, ligatures, ink traps, font psychology, Book of the Dead and papyrus paper. They were taught how to develop a story by gathering information, converting it into action, depicting a conflict, and finally emerging with a resolution for the story. Though comics have been used as a method for storytelling and entertainment, their potential in education is slowly being recognized.
Presenters
Vaijayanti AjinkyaFaculty, Applied Art, Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, Maharashtra, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Pedagogy, Visual Narratives, Fundamentals, Comics
