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“Four years ago I was asked to develop a course
in the history of graphic design for our students in Visual Communications.
I also teach the foundation course in typography for those students
and chose to structure the class partly as an extension of their studies
in typography.
 For
some reason I have developed the habit over the years of making badly
rhymed couplets and began doing it with some of the less likely rhyming
words we encountered in our studies. I also began challenging the students
to use topics we had covered in a particular lecture in a rhyme—
or rap— for next class. They weren’t very adept. But I recognized
this as a way to get some of the most formulaic information across to
them in a palatable fashion as a mnemonic device. My thinking was that
if they could get the very basic points in the history to be effortless
in recall, then the other, more complex, information would naturally
branch out from there.
It became a rap when I stole—sampled—some music
from the rappers Jurassic 5 as my backup. (My apologies to them, I hope
they never hear it.) The MP3
has taken on a life of its own, a favorite of my students to forward
to their parents.”
 Download
“Typography”, the MP3
Website: History
of graphic design
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