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9 months
From October 2026 till May 2027
Fridays from 11 a.m. till 5 p.m. (CET).
Kick-off event: Museum Plantin-Moretus or livestreaming with Zoom. Next: everything online.
Jeremy Tankard
The Expert Class Type Design is an intensive learning program in which a group of 16 students is guided over a period of 9 months in the design and production of a complete typeface in roman, italic, and bold. This course is taught by the British type designer Jeremy Tankard.
Principle tasks include:
Jeremy Tankard is a graduate of Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art and has been designing type since the early 90s. His first typeface, Disturbance, was released through FontShop International in 1993, followed by Bliss in 1996, (for Agfa Creative Alliance), and later by typefaces for Adobe and Microsoft.
Eclectic in inspiration and reference, Jeremy continues to design a diverse range of typefaces that aim to provide new visual textures for creative expression. While some designs are bespoke commissions, many are available for licensing through typography.net.
The compliment website studiotype.com shows brief insights into the inspiration, research and process of both the bespoke and original designs.
The workshops are held during the Kick Off event (12–16 October 2026), an intensive and immersive five-day program in Antwerp, packed with in-person lessons, exercises, guest lectures, study visits, and social activities. Experience teaches us that these intense five days are an ideal opportunity for the students to get to know each other better, and to immerse the group in the invaluable collection of the Museum Plantin-Moretus, with punches, matrices, early modern books, and type specimens.
The workshops are designed to deliver and expand on a base typographic knowledge, introducing core concepts that will be used throughout the course.
Subjects covered:
The group project will be briefed during the Kick Off event and discussed in the first online session. For this project you will study title pages from selected books of the MPM collection. This exercise will introduce you to the methodology and process of designing type, including:
During the Expert Class, we will be using the unique heritage collection of the Plantin-Moretus Museum to inspire the creation of fresh type designs. You will realise that type is part of a continuing history, and that you have the opportunity to contribute to this. By experiencing and understanding key historical developments, technologies, and typography, you will be better equipped to create fresh ideas. Our ambition is to foster in you a passion for advancing typographic design.
Monday 12 October:
Wednesday 14 October:
Thursday 15 October:
Friday 16 October:
The subsequent online sessions, given between November and May, guide you through every aspect of type design, enabling you to complete the design of a typeface family.
Subjects covered:
This program requires a significant commitment from the participants. Factor in at least two days of development work every week between November and May. In the process, your work is followed up during different stages of design and production.
There is also a reading list with mandatory and recommended books that will lay the foundation for this course. The list will be shared with you before the start of the course.
During the early design stage of your personal typeface design, you will sketch all the core characters in different styles and weights, and only then will you progress to more formal drawings on tracing paper. Even in the digitising stage, you will go back to your sketchbook to further develop the features and details of your expanding typeface design.
The Expert Class is designed for graphic designers with a keen interest in typography. It will be intensive, hence ‘Expert’ in the title, but perfectly achievable and very rewarding. Students who successfully complete the course obtain an officially recognised post-college certificate.
The course is highly international, attracting students from various countries. Consequently, lessons are conducted in English.
Requirements:
To be admitted to the group, we will ask you to submit a short PDF portfolio that demonstrates you have sufficient experience with typography and graphic design, together with some basic experience in type design. Please include some examples of sketches for type. The course will focus on the design of text type rather than display, using the Latin alphabet as its primary model.
Calendar: A five-day Kick Off on-site in Antwerp, followed by nine online sessions.
Kick Off: Monday 12 October to Friday 16 October 2026.
From 9 a.m. till 4.40 p.m.
Online lessons: Nine Fridays between November and May 2027.
From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Plantin-Moretus Museum, Vrijdagmarkt 22, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium, and online via Zoom.
The reading room of the museum is open on week days from 9.30 a.m. till 4.30 p.m.
2500 euro.
A 20% discount is available for students up to one year after graduating from a university or college.
Interested
Vrijdagmarkt 22
2000 Antwerp
Belgium
