8 Fun Games That Will Help You Learn Typography
Learning typography is important, but it doesn’t have to be a chore. There are tonnes of fun games out there that make learning type a bit more entertaining but are equally as educational. Here are some of my faves and a bit of an idea of what exactly they will teach you.
KERNTYPE: A Kerning Game
This was the first type game that I was introduced to and from there I was hooked. We used it to learn kerning at university and it’s super helpful. With interactive letters, KERNTYPE teaches you about the spacing between letters, scoring you a percentage depending on how close you are to perfect!
Watch me play this game here.
SHAPETYPE: A Letter Shaping Game
SHAPETYPE is made by the same people as KERNTYPE, so the idea is similar: learn type through games. In this game, however, you are learning about the shape of the letters themselves, using bezier curves to adjust the curves and angles of each glyph, again comparing your results with the correct shape!
Watch me play this game here.
The Bézier Game
The Bézier Game goes more in depth into bézier curves, teaching you how to use the pen tool for Illustrator through this in-browser game. It introduces you to the pen tool with a super handy tutorial and then leaves you to it, comparing the amount of nodes you used to complete the shape.
The Rather Difficult Font Game
This is a font-identification game. Increase your knowledge of different typefaces by guessing what font is shown. Multiple-choice answers narrow things down for you and from there it’s all on you to make your decision. This game is also available on iOS if you prefer to play that way!
TypeConnection: A Typographic Dating Game
This dating game is all about matching typefaces. Choose a font to start pairing, explore different matching methods, find typographic suitors and send your fonts on a date. This game of cupid teaches about pairing typefaces in a fun but highly educational way, with masses of information about each typeface and it’s matches.
Typewar
Another identification game, Typewar shows a letter and two typeface options. Select the correct font and rack up points and move up levels. Typewar now also has quests, allowing you to tackle a particular letter, a certain set of typefaces, or one font classification.
Rag Time
Kerning can be the bane of a typographer’s existence, it is mine sometimes anyway! It’s a hugely important lesson to learn in typographic layout, but a difficult one to master. This game takes the pressure to a whole other level, giving you 60 seconds to perfectly adjust the rag of a paragraph! Quite a hard one, but a good one for learning the (literal) ins and outs of rags!
Helvetica Vs Arial
And last but not least, a super fun one! This boxing match game puts Helvetica into the ring in order to beat Arial and show it who’s boss, teaching you a little about the history of the typefaces while you’re at it.
I hope you get hours of fun out of these games, and learn something along the way. Have you got some other games that you find helpful for learning about type? Let me know! I’d love to play!
Hollie x
Originally published at www.blackandwhitestudios.nz.
About the author
Hello! I’m Hollie — a creative director and designer obsessed with letterforms! I spend my time working on hand lettering, typography, type design and branding, using the power of words made visual to tell empowering stories. Let’s be friends — say hi on Twitter! 🤘
