In Conversation with the Authors of Super-Veloz
With the launch of a new book preview site, we asked Alex Trochut and Andreu Balius for a crash course on the modular type marvel from Spain.
News / Collections
An Undercover Look at Letterform Archive’s Graffiti Collection
For the past five years, our library of graffiti zines has provided a rare snapshot of an underrepresented art form and the dynamic community that sustains it. Graffiti writer and type designer Kel Troughton discusses his role in assembling the collection.
In many ways, graffiti is letterform innovation in its purest form. Its practitioners—known as writers—are constantly inventing new ways to depict the alphabet and its combinations, developing intensely personal styles while pushing the boundaries of legibility. Similar things are said about calligraphy, lettering, and type design—all of which fill design collections—and yet graffiti is commonly separated from these traditional crafts, and often ignored by museums except for work broadly defined as “street art.”
From the Collection: Dorothy and Otis Shepard
Known for their decades-long partnership with the Wrigley Company, this creative couple helped introduce modernist design to everyday life in midcentury America.
Before design historians became enamored with husband-and-wife creative teams like Charles and Ray Eames, Dorothy Shepard and Otis “Shep” Shepard created some of the most iconic American designs of the 1930s through the mid-20th century. These two powerfully talented commercial artists spearheaded a transition to modernist aesthetics in American advertising. From chewing gum packaging and beer ads to a luxury island, they designed major brand campaigns and experiences across the country.
Seen Together: Ludwig & Mayer Type Specimen and Poster Design for Chlorodont
What connects a 1930s type specimen to a student’s assignment from the 1950s? A century-old oral hygiene brand from Germany!
Spanning stylistic and topical boundaries, Letterform Archive’s collection often invites unexpected and evocative connections. Seen Together is a new blog series featuring our favorite object pairings—works that may come from very different times and places, yet sit next to each other in dialogue on a tour table.
From the Collection: Emigre Font Development Files
Drawing from her experience working with the collection, and conversations with its principle designers, Digitization Specialist Eve Scarborough reflects on the materiality of type design.
Donated along with their collection in 2016, Emigre’s font development files represent a rare comprehensive view of a digital type foundry’s process. After two years of work, the collection is now digitized in full, a world’s first for such an archive. A selection of objects will be made available to the public through the Online Archive.
Black Memory Scholar: The Language of Storytellers
Our next pop-up exhibition is on view in the Reading Room gallery from April 28 to July 10, 2026. Jada Simone Haynes describes the very personal process of curating the show.
संग्रह से : हिन्दी में लेटरफॉर्म आर्काइव का परिचय
अक्षरों के इतिहास और डिज़ाइन की कहानियाँ, अब हिन्दी में। / An introduction in Hindi to Letterform Archive’s collection.
यह लेटरफॉर्म आर्काइव पर प्रकाशित होने वाला पहला हिंदी लेख है। इसमें दुनिया भर से आई वस्तुएँ शामिल हैं, और यह लेख उनके कुछ चुने हुए उदाहरण प्रस्तुत करता है। इसे लिखने का उद्देश्य सिर्फ़ नए पाठकों तक पहुँचना नहीं है, बल्कि रॉडिकल एक्सेस के विचार को आगे बढ़ाना है, जिस पर लेटरफॉर्म आर्काइव की नींव रखी गई है।
Letterform Archive Pop-Up Exhibition Curated by Debbie Millman Celebrates a Groundbreaking Book Design
Tristram Shandy, The First Modern Book is on view in the our Reading Room gallery until April 26, 2026.
Letterform Archive is honored to welcome author, artist, educator, designer, and podcast pioneer Debbie Millman as a guest curator for our latest reading room exhibition. Tristram Shandy, The First Modern Book showcases a book that, in many ways, feels astonishingly modern—even though it was first published 266 years ago in 1760.