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Typography Masterclass

Elliot Jay Stocks

Your instructor
Elliot Jay Stocks

Workshop includes:

  • 🔖  Examples to take away
  • 🗣  Interactive sessions
  • 📺  Workshop recordings
  • 🎤  Dedicated Q&A time
  • 🏅  Smashing Certificate

Workshop, 5×2h + Q&A Mon & Tue, June 10–24 2024
09:00 – 11:30 AM PT 18:00 – 20:30 CET Check your time zone

We communicate with text every single day, but what does it mean to really understand type — to use it with clear intent and purpose? The art and science of typography combines subtle tweaks to line lengths with harmonious combinations of weights and styles; considered typeface pairings with a robust set of alternate characters; exciting technological advances with the realities of font licensing.

In three weeks, over five focussed sessions, you’ll gain a deep understanding of the universal principles of typography and learn how to apply them across any work you do with type, from the simplest of documents to the most complex of cross-platform design systems.


Here’s What You Should Be Expecting:

  • Interactive live sessions

    5 × 2.5h live sessions

  • Practical insights

    From simple documents to cross-platform design systems

  • Hands-on exercises

    With reviews by your teacher

  • Life-time access

    To all video recordings and examples

  • Dedicated Q&A time

    To ask all your questions

  • Smashing Certificate

    A well-deserved reward for your work



There are so many ways we as designers can optimise how our text is read and influence the way its message is understood — and yet so many of us miscommunicate without even realising.

Building upon tried-and-tested principles from the world of print through to the very latest advances in browser technology, this workshop will equip you with everything you need to make the most informed typographic decisions in your design work today.

We’ll Cover:

  • Working with typography as part of a design system
  • How to evaluate typefaces for pairings that actually work
  • Getting the best out of variable fonts
  • Responsive type & fluid type scales
  • Weights, styles, widths, and optical sizes — what they are, why you’d use them, and how to implement them properly (on the web and in print)
  • Using grade when designing for dark mode
  • The ultimate checklist for choosing and pairing type
  • How good typography is optical trickery: hanging punctuation, widows and orphans, indenting, incremental leading, and much more
  • Type anatomy and classification
  • Line-height, line length (measure), letter-spacing (tracking), and kerning
  • Alternate glyphs & implementing OpenType features
  • Licensing type, and installing and managing fonts
  • Font delivery services vs. self-hosting
  • Loading and optimising web fonts
  • Size perception & inaccuracies when typesetting
  • Working with typographic controls in Figma, Adobe apps, and in CSS

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for interface designers, front-end designers and developers, and anyone else who wants to deepen their understanding about type and typography.

About Elliot Jay Stocks

Elliot is a designer with 20 years’ experience working on the web and in print, known in typographic circles as the founder of 8 Faces magazine, the Creative Director of Adobe Fonts, the co-creator of Google Fonts Knowledge, and most recently, the author of Universal Principles of Typography (Quarto, 2024).

Elliot and his work have been profiled in publications such as Communication Arts, Creative Review, and Page, and he is a familiar face at design and tech conferences all over the globe, including TYPO, Web Directions, SXSW, and SmashingConf.

Time & Schedule

This workshop is split over five days. The workshop sessions will run on the following days:

  • Mon, June 10, 09:00 – 12:00 AM PT (18:00 – 21:00 CET)
  • Tue, June 11, 09:00 – 12:00 AM PT (18:00 – 21:00 CET)
  • Mon, June 17, 09:00 – 12:00 AM PT (18:00 – 21:00 CET)
  • Tue, June 18, 09:00 – 12:00 AM PT (18:00 – 21:00 CET)
  • Mon, June 24, 09:00 – 12:00 AM PT (18:00 – 21:00 CET)

You can always re-watch the sessions at a more convenient time and follow the workshop at your own pace.


Day 1 — Understanding type & typography

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introductions.

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
We’ll talk about type anatomy, type classification, weights & styles, widths & optical sizes and punctuation.

10:05 AM – 11:00 AM
In the second part of the first session, we’ll look into alternate glyphs & OpenType features, numerals and variable fonts.

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Q&A with Elliot on the day’s material. Networking!

Day 2 — Using type in practice

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introductions.

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
On the second day, we’ll talk about line-height & leading, letter-spacing (tracking), kerning and line length (measure).

10:05 AM – 11:00 AM
We’ll continue with type scales. And we’ll talk about how good typography is optical trickery with topics such as widows & orphans, hanging punctuation, incremental leading, customise drop caps and much more!

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Q&A with Elliot on the day’s material. Networking!

Day 3 — Choosing & pairing type

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introductions.

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
On day three, we’ll take a look at the ultimate checklist for choosing type, and perceived size differences when swapping or pairing (x-height and the em square).

10:05 AM – 11:00 AM
After the break, we take a look at pairing type, licensing type and installing & managing fonts.

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Q&A with Elliot on the day’s material. Networking!

Day 4 — Exploring web typography

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introductions.

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
We’ll learn about font delivery services vs. self-hosting, loading web fonts, and optimising font display.

10:05 AM – 11:00 AM
After the break, we’ll take a look at implementing weights, styles, widths, optical sizes, and more on the web and implementing OpenType features on the web.

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Q&A with Elliot on the day’s material. Networking!

Day 5 — Mastering web typography

8:45 AM PT
Virtual doors open, registration, chat and introductions.

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
On the last day, we’ll learn about implementing variable fonts on the web.

10:05 AM – 11:00 AM
Lastly, we’ll look at using grade for dark mode, design systems, responsive type scales, and optical sizes. We’ll learn about line-height considerations for cross-platform design systems. And Elliot will provide you with useful resources for further reading & research.

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Q&A with Elliot on the day’s material. Networking!