Students from the Master's program in Concept Art left for their first off-site teaching experience.
The destination was the Tipoteca Italiana in Cornuda, in the province of Treviso-the most important museum in Italy dedicated to the art of printing and typography.

The visit to this important establishment led the children to discover the tools and history of typography, exploring all the actions of the typographer's work (hand typesetting and printing) and the role of the many crafts related to the world of type: engraving of punches, preparation of matrices, casting of type and, even earlier, the design and drawing of type.

Accompanied by a museum staff member, the children explored the tools, techniques and history of a craft that combines precision craftsmanship and visual creativity.

The visit consisted of several stages:

• introductory guided tour: one of the museum curators showed the printing presses and told the history of typefaces, taking students on a journey through the evolution of typography and its production times;
• stop at the historical library: here the children discovered the history of movable type and browsed through one of the first books devoted to typography, also delving into the evolution of printing over the centuries;
• tour of the printing workshops: an opportunity to observe the machinery up close and understand the entire printing process, from manual typesetting to final printing.

But the most engaging moment of the day was the hands-on workshop. Students experienced firsthand how to compose, emboss and print their own typefaces. After carefully assembling the letters and placing them in the press, they turned a crank and stamped the ink onto the paper, resulting in a unique and personalized print.

The children took home a wonderful experience, a lot of extra knowledge about the world of typography and a customized print, discovering how useful it is, even in the digital world, to understand the origins of visual communication.