This week, with a slate of nearly 50 contributors on board, Monotype’s Juan Villanueva launched Type Crit Crew—a free resource for type design students to meet one-on-one with industry pros.
With the world quarantining at home—and many students cut off from the institutional resources they usually have access to—it couldn’t have come at a better time.
As Villanueva has written, the project’s goals are threefold:
- “To make type design and type designers more accessible and approachable to students of all levels from anywhere in the world who are serious about honing their skills
- “To do our part in making our field more inclusive and diverse
- “To spread our love and passion for type.”
How it works: Villanueva has coordinated a spreadsheet breaking down the pros by their areas of expertise, their professional associations and, perhaps most importantly, their calendars. Students can find the best match for their work and then reach out to the instructor to set up a 15–30 minute one-on-one session (the platform being dependent on the pro’s preference).
It’s all totally free—though students can make a donation to the instructor or a charity of the instructor’s choice afterward.
However, as Villanueva notes, “Keep in mind that this is not a place for free professional consultations on paid or spec work. Design consultation is a job that many of our instructors engage in. In fact, many of them are available for freelance work, and you’re encouraged to reach out to them in a professional capacity to hire them for a project. Remember, this is fundamentally a learning resource meant to open doors for people.”
Students can register for one critique a month with everyone from Lynne Yun and James Edmondson to Lila Symons and David Jonathan Ross. New instructors will be added and announced on Tuesdays—and if you’re interested in joining the project as a pro, you can sign up here.
“If you work for a foundry or for yourself, if you’ve released dozens of fonts or just one, or if you’ve graduated from a type design program or are self-taught, your experience counts,” Villanueva writes. “The most important thing is that you’re willing to share your time and hard-earned experience in the field with those who are just starting. Think of it as paying it forward.”
For a FAQ and much more, visit the project’s Medium page. (Images via.)
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