Publications I students show their type identities before the parade. Photo by Kelsey Capik

Anything that involves costumes and prizes sounds fun, right?

Here’s a little disclaimer: I did not invent this activity. I heard of this idea a few years ago (by reading about it in a yearbook I was critiquing) and decided to adapt the idea for my own students. If you’re reading this post and you’ve done a similar activity, I would love to hear the details so we can compare notes. I definitely plan to do this again.

So, we’d been studying typography in my beginner publications course for a few class periods. We looked at “Meet Your Type” and a few quick YouTube clips, some cool type design projects … even signing a Comic Sans pledge. After all of the activities, notes, PowerPoints, type design (and — gasp! — a quiz), we did this as a fun culminating activity.

Here are the steps:

1. Students each choose a typeface from whatever you have available.

2. Students find a few examples of the typeface in use and determine its personality or identity. (In our case, this part was homework.)

3. The following class period, students come dressed in full costume to represent the identity/personality of their typeface.

4. Holding a printed example of the typeface and its name, they parade through a designated area (we used the cafeteria). They stop midway to introduce themselves to the judges and describe themselves.

EX: “My name is Nuptial Script and I would like to request the honour of your presence at the upcoming ceremony uniting two kindred spirits in holy matrimony.”

EX: “Hola, me llamo Chilada. Want some chips and salsa at my fiesta? Adios!”

5. Judges award prizes and everyone poses for a bunch of photos.

The kids had a blast and it really helped them analyze type styles and what type of attitude or tone certain typefaces convey.