Create a short-form typography documentary inspired by Typefaces of Toronto. Your subject is Tacoma: signs, storefronts, murals, plaques, windows, ghost signs, wayfinding, stickers, menus, or any public-facing local type.
Find one interesting piece of typography in Tacoma and turn it into a tight vertical short. The point is not just to show a sign. The point is to notice design in the real world and use motion, framing, pacing, and narration/text to make other people notice it too.
Look up Typefaces of Toronto on Instagram and watch several of their reels/shorts before planning yours. Study the format: close observation, local typography, concise context, clean cuts, and a strong sense of place.
Episode 1 • Start here for the format and pacing.
Episode 2 • Study the shot economy and caption pacing.
Episode 3 • Look for how the type specimen is introduced.
Episode 4 • Notice the balance of place, detail, and commentary.
Episode 5 • Watch how framing makes signage feel designed.
Episode 7 • Reference for concise visual storytelling.
Episode 8 • Study the mix of typography and environment.
Episode 10 • Reference for a tighter, later-series episode.
Episode 14 • Newer reference for polish and delivery.
3D Camera Tracking: Helpful if students want type or graphics to stick into real footage.
3D Text Motion Tracking: Beginner-friendly refresher for placing typography into a shot.
Inpainting / Object Removal: Useful for cleaning distractions from signage footage.
Content-Aware Fill: Refresher for removing unwanted objects or fixing a plate.
Attaching Objects to Surfaces: Good for adding labels, callouts, or type overlays to walls/ground.
Tracked Typography: Another quick reference for matching text to camera movement.
Show the street, building, storefront, alley, or object so the type has a place.
Capture the letterforms clearly. Avoid shaky unreadable footage.
Show paint, neon, vinyl, rust, glass, metal, brick, weathering, or hand-made quirks.
Use a pan, push-in, mask, wipe, match cut, or kinetic caption to reveal the most interesting detail.
Add one concise fact, observation, or question that makes viewers look closer.
End with the type looking intentional, cinematic, and memorable.
Ghost signs, neon, painted storefronts, vintage logos, old theaters, diners, repair shops, warehouses.
Murals, stickers, venue posters, hand-painted windows, record shops, coffee shops, skate or music spaces.
Museum labels, wayfinding, transit signs, campus lettering, plaques, civic buildings, historic markers.
Upload the final vertical .MP4 plus 3-5 source photos or screenshots showing the type specimen you documented.