Phan, L. D. H., Jalali, A., and van Amstel, F. M. C. (2025). Designing the world precedes designing the word: Critical pedagogy in typography education, in Pombo, F., Moreira da Silva, F., Nielsen, L. M., and Börekçi, N. (eds.), DRS Learn X Design Conference 2025, 22-24 September 2025, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Abstract
This paper describes a critical pedagogy design experiment in typography education in a public university in the United States of America. Inspired by Paulo Freire’s claim that reading the world precedes reading the word, typography was reframed in this experiment as a designing of the world through designing the word. To design words this way, graphic design students need first to re-read the designs of their worlds, have something to say about that, and then critically embed their (designed) word into their (designed) world. This experiment builds upon the critical design pedagogy program set forth by the Design & Oppression Network, to which this research adds a reflective description of teaching typography to graphic design students. This research stands as a first attempt to adapt the Paulo Freire Method to graphic design education, particularly its foundation on generative themes, words, and images.
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Hiền Phan 