Cohort 5 · Opens 14 September
A six-week, part-time course that replaces taste arguments with a method: how to read a typeface, build a scale, and defend both in a review. For product designers and the engineers who ship their work.
or 3 × $125 — no interest · 30-day refund · Lifetime access
4.9/5 from 412 reviews
Typeset
$349$495Cohort 5 closes soon
Designers from
Figma, Monzo, Linear, Pentagram, Shopify, Frog
The shift
Six weeks, part-time. 24 lessons. 6 workshops. Lifetime access. 30-day refund. Cohort capped at eight
What you get
Everything is a deliverable. Nothing on this list is a video you watched once.
11hof lessons
Not a moodboard. A documented scale, tokens in code, and a rationale page you can hand to an engineer or a client on the last day of the course.
Each one ends in a file, not notes. This is why people finish.
62 typefaces annotated with what they're for, what they cost, and the free alternative.
Duplicate the styles and variables, or pull the CSS tokens straight into your project.
Three 1:1 critiques on the top tier. Written feedback, line by line, on your own work.
Four cohorts deep, still active, still answering questions at 11pm.
Curriculum
6 modules · 23 lessons
Every module ends in a workshop with a deliverable. By week six you have a documented type system in code, not a folder of notes.
Your instructor
Type designer · Former Design Director, Frog
I spent eleven years choosing type for other people's products — six of them at Frog, where I led the design system work for two banks and a national rail operator. The pattern was always the same: teams could tell a page felt wrong, but nobody could say why, so type decisions got reopened every quarter.
So I started writing the reasoning down. That document became a workshop, the workshop became this course, and the method has now been used by teams at Monzo, Shopify and Linear.
I still draw type. Two of my families are in production on sites you've used, which is mostly relevant because it means I know exactly how much of the 'rules' are real and how much is folklore.
Proof
I had been designing for nine years and still picked type by vibe. Week two gave me a method I have used on every project since — including the rebrand I was terrified of.
Our design reviews used to run 90 minutes and settle nothing. We now have shared language for type, and they run 25.
Week three fixed a problem I'd had for years: my line lengths. One rule about measure and suddenly my long-form pages stopped feeling exhausting.
I expected rules. What I got was a way of thinking that I can apply to a typeface I've never seen before.
I had been designing for nine years and still picked type by vibe. Week two gave me a method I have used on every project since — including the rebrand I was terrified of.
Our design reviews used to run 90 minutes and settle nothing. We now have shared language for type, and they run 25.
Week three fixed a problem I'd had for years: my line lengths. One rule about measure and suddenly my long-form pages stopped feeling exhausting.
I expected rules. What I got was a way of thinking that I can apply to a typeface I've never seen before.
Included free
62 typefaces annotated with what they're actually good at, what they cost, and the free alternative that gets you 80% of the way.
The scale, styles and variables from week two, ready to duplicate. Includes the fluid-type documentation page.
CSS custom properties and Tailwind config for the system you build, plus the subsetting script from week five.
The one-page document I use to get type decisions signed off — with two real filled-in examples.
Eleven hours of past cohort Q&A, indexed by question so you can jump to the one you have.
Cohort 5
Critique places are capped at eight so the reviews stay useful. Four have gone.
Enrolment closes in
Enrol
Every lesson, workshop and file. Yours for good, at your own speed.
or 3 × $125 — no interest
Enrol — self-pacedEverything above, plus your work reviewed by me — where the real jump happens.
or 3 × $225 — no interest
Enrol — with critiquePrices in USD. Company card welcome — you'll get a proper invoice with your tax ID at checkout.
Work through the first two modules. If you haven't built something you'd show in a review, reply to any email and I'll refund you in full — you keep every file and template.
— Elena
Questions
Between three and four hours. Roughly 70 minutes of lessons and one workshop you do at your own pace. People with full-time jobs finish it; the 94% completion rate is the reason I keep the weekly load where it is.
Yes, and design engineers are about a third of every cohort. Weeks two, three and five are almost entirely about implementation: scales, clamp(), variable font axes, subsetting, tokens. You'll get more out of the critique weeks if you're willing to show work, but that's the only requirement.
No. Every exercise can be done with open-source families, and the specimen library flags a free alternative for each commercial face. If your team does license type, week one will make you much better at deciding what to license.
Lessons are pre-recorded, so you never have to be online at an awkward hour. Self-paced is entirely on your schedule. The With critique tier adds scheduled 1:1 reviews and one live final critique — we book those around your timezone.
Email me within 30 days and I'll refund you in full, no form and no questions. You keep the files. In four cohorts, six people have asked; all six got their money back the same week.
Most do. Check out with a company card and you'll get a proper invoice with your VAT or tax ID on it — there's a field at checkout. If procurement needs a quote or a W-9 first, email me and you'll have it within a day.
One decision
The only question is whether you can explain the choice. Six weeks, three hours a week, and a refund if it doesn't land.
or 3 × $125 — no interest · Lifetime access · 30-day refund