For approximately 350 first-year students at Showa University of Music,"Presentation materials that communicate with others"We held a special class on fonts and layout with the theme,
This class was held as part of the "Basic Seminar" that all first-year students take, and was a basic course on characters.
Showa University of MusicAll first-year students have access to the full Morisawa font lineupThe environment is perfect!
At a music university, students hone their performance and composition skills while studying a wide range of subjects, including music theory, history, education, and acoustics. In their daily studies, they have many opportunities to handle written information, such as writing reports and presentation slides, as well as creating flyers for self-organized concerts and campus presentations.
On the other hand, opportunities to learn design systematically are limited.."There are few opportunities to pay attention to "presentation" and "readability"This is the current situation.
In this class, students who have not studied design professionally will be"The fundamentals of writing and composition to convey information clearly and accurately"As part of this course, participants learned about the role of fonts and the basics of layout.
Introduction to the seminar content
The theme this time is"Presentation Materials".
Even students with no design experience can put it to use right awayWell, I've included some practical points.
The class began with an activity in which students were asked to "first try to find a specific font in your surroundings."
The class was held in two locations, a large hall and a classroom, and everyone was excited about finding the perfect font!
In the middle of the lesson,What difference does changing the font or composition of the same text make?We compared the two and had participants experience how easy it was to read and how easily the information was conveyed.
The students seemed surprised at how simply making small adjustments to basic elements such as font size, line spacing, and margins could dramatically change the impression and level of understanding.
Reactions from students who attended the course
I usually just wrote some random words and pasted them on the documents, thinking "it's enough if I can understand it."However, I realized that it's important to pay attention to small details such as text and margins.
When creating slide materials, more than just "beautiful appearance",I felt that the perspective of "how can I convey my message to others" was very important.I'm thinking about holding my own concert in the future, so I thought I'd use this experience when creating flyers and programs for those concerts.
I was able to understand what I had vaguely understood intuitively when it was put into words.It was very easy to understand as it explained why it was happening.I thought it would be useful for creating future materials.
I thought design was just a matter of taste, but I was able to hear the key points.I thought I would be able to create presentations that are easy to understand..
We also spoke to the instructors in charge
After the class, we spoke with Professor Sakai, Professor Ogasa, and Professor Irie, who are in charge of the basic seminar.
From your perspective as a teacher, what did you think of this class?
Professor Ogasa:A curriculum focused on "visibility"I think it was very good that it turned out like this.
Perhaps because the students are used to using social media, they are good at displaying photos and videos and produce very beautiful results, but when it comes to arranging text and sentences, they often end up arranging them in a way that makes them difficult to read. I'm very grateful that this class showed me that this isn't the way to convey information, and I would like to continue encouraging them by saying, "I remember what you said in that class (at Morisawa)."
Mr. Irie：I also sometimes feel that it is difficult to create easy-to-read materials, so I sometimes study by reading books.I was grateful for the explanation of the key points of the design.I think there is a big difference between reading a book and understanding it by yourself and being able to understand it by receiving a proper explanation.It covered everything from basic logic to sensation.I felt that this experience will be useful to students in the future.
Thoughts for the students who attended the course
Professor Ogasa: Through this lecture,"How do people feel when they see it?" "Just a little ingenuity makes it easier to watch."It may take a little more skill to actually see this reflected in the students' performances, and it may not be easy, but I think that just "noticing" this is an achievement.
Mr. Sakai：To summarize the main points rather than just putting text on a slide, you need to select and discard information, which requires something like logical thinking. The same goes for choosing fonts.You need to organize the information and choose it after thinking about "What is the position of this part in the slide?"There is, right?
Of course, organizing information in this way involves not only fonts but also layout, and is related to the entire process of designing slides.I want you to create slides that effectively convey the important points to people.is.
Future font use at Showa University of Music
Mr. Sakai: Not just for presentation materials,Whatever you make, it all comes down to designIsn't that right? I often find myself thinking, "Couldn't the documents I create every day be a little more creative?" and I hope that more people will start paying attention to design. When you think about how many things are made up of "design,"Being able to choose the font that best suits what you're making from a wide variety of options is very important.I think this is a good idea, so I hope that schools will continue to introduce fonts in the future.
This time, the theme was PowerPoint presentation materials due to class responsibilities, but music college students also create their own posters and flyers for self-organized concerts and campus presentations. I think it would be good to have a class that teaches advanced font selection and layout in line with such practical situations!
Morisawa supports the use of characters!
"Basic knowledge of fonts and layout" is a lesson that is especially necessary for students who are not specializing in design.
The ability to communicate clearly can be used in a variety of situations, including presentations, research presentations, public relations activities, and even communication in the workplace.
The initiative at Showa University of Music is a new form of education that fosters the ability to communicate through writing.
Morisawa will continue to support learning in a variety of fields through fonts and help create an environment where students can develop the ability to communicate using their own words and expressions.
Showa University of Music is not only for students,Morisawa's UD fonts have also been adopted by all staff members..
For more details, please see the article below!
To help schools that have introduced Morisawa products use letters more effectively, we provide a variety of support, including these lessons.
If you are a school considering introducing fonts, please feel free to contact us!
