How I Crowdfunded My Online Course During Quarantine

It took a lot of experimentation, elbow grease, and community support

Credit: Flourished Compositions

I recently ran a campaign on Kickstarter to create an affordable online video course on typeface design. It received an overwhelming amount of support and funding from the community, so I wanted to write about what I learned to express my gratitude. I’ve included practical tips, insight, and financial details that might be helpful for anyone interested in doing something similar.

Promo video for the Kickstarter campaign, launched May 2020

What I set out to do with my new online series:

• Create the internet’s most comprehensive type design course, ever
• Keep it at an affordable price for everyone
• Make type design an approachable subject

I’m happy to report that by the end of the project I had:

• Created an ongoing scholarship for BIPoC students (with over 300 spots given out at the time of writing)
• Improved accessibility by adding English and Spanish subtitles (with Portuguese coming soon)
• Made a total of seven chapters with 51 lectures — all in all, about eight and a half hours of videos