Curriculum
Postgraduate research course
ANRT currently offers two kinds of curriculum: a taught ‘post-master’ course, and PhD research programs in partnership with other institutions. The post-master course welcomes students for eighteen months (from October to March), with the aim to develop a self-initiated project dedicated to type or editorial design. They can join a pre-established research programme (2-3 positions for these programmes are opened each year). A strong connection between research and practice is required, and interdisciplinary projects are encouraged. Six students are recruited for each session, who receive an allowance to support their research project. Students meet with the core teaching staff on a weekly basis, and attend a range of seminars and workshops by guest lecturers throughout the year.
In some cases, students who wish to take their research further have the possibility to undertake a PhD in partnership with another research laboratory. Such research programmes are necessarily more ambitious and must aim at providing an original contribution to research. They are co-supervised by ANRT and the partner institutions, and are carried out on the longer term, with PhD students typically working on their project for 36–48 months.
Applicant profile
ANRT is a place of excellence where a specific expertise in typeface design and in editorial design is developed. Its purpose is to support research projects submitted each year by applicants. In addition to self-initiated projects, wider research themes have been defined, to be developed by ANRT on the longer term: they result in specific research programmes relating to these aspects, and are developed with partner institutions. These themes include:
- developing typographical solutions for the needs of academic research (creation of specific alphabets, stabilization of minority scripts or notation systems, development of typographic tools and keyboard layout solutions)
- creating software-related solutions for digital transcription of early imprints (character recognition, encoding, outlines detection, design automation, responsive typography…)
Course structure
The post-master’s provides an outstanding environment for developing research, with the benefit of regular supervision by leading typographic designers. We teach both in French and English.
- Director of typographic research in attendance two days per week
- Regular invited speakers on typography / graphic design
- One-day sessions dedicated to guests and lecturers, visual artists and theorists
- Partnerships with research laboratories and academic departments developing joint research programmes
- Preferential access to documentary and other resources (study trips) offered by ENSAD Nancy
- Some expenses related to research projects may be covered by ANRT
- Presentation and dissemination of students’ work (publications, exhibitions, etc.)
Opportunity for teaching experience: students can lead one workshop each year to ENSAD Nancy’s visual communication students.