Letterform Archive – Past Events

Past Lectures and Salons

This is a listing of all Lectures and Salons presented by Letterform Archive since 2017. See upcoming events and join our mailing list to be notified of future events. See video recordings of past Letterform Lectures. Salon Series video is available exclusively to Archive members.

Why Start a National Design Archive?
with Gabriel Amijai Benderski Perez

Co-presented by Book Arts & Special Collections, San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture at Letterform Archive
Tue, Nov 30, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
Words with Shape and Soul
with Dina Benbrahim

Co-presented by Book Arts & Special Collections, San Francisco Public Library
Lecture at Letterform Archive
Tue, Nov 16, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
What Makes a Typeface Legible? Ask Science.
with Sofie Beier

Co-presented by Book Arts & Special Collections, San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Nov 2, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
An Exploration of Angel DeCora’s Design and Lettering Work
with Neebinnaukzhik Southall

Co-presented by Book Arts & Special Collections, San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Oct 19, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
Elementype, a practical guide to typographic use.
with Sandra García, Dafne Martínez, Mónica Munguía

Online Lecture
Tue, Jul 13, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
A Script That Pleases The Eye
with Iyad Naja

Online Lecture
Tue, Jun 22, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
Salon Series 28: Letterforms of the Viennese Secession
with Stephen Coles

Co-presented by Poster House
Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, May 27, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
Stone-carved Lettering and the Digital Age
with Nicholas Benson

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture at Letterform Archive
Tue, Mar 30, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
Salon Series 27: Book Jackets
with Sally Beale

Salon
Thu, Mar 25, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
Nüshu, a script created by self-educated women in a remote region of China
with Lisa Huang 黄丽莎

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture at Letterform Archive
Tue, Mar 16, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
The Font Detective & the California Cases
with Thomas Phinney

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Lecture at Letterform Archive
Tue, Mar 2, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
Atkinson Hyperlegible: Challenging assumptions about legibility and accessibility
with Applied Design Works

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture at Letterform Archive
Tue, Feb 16, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
Salon Series 26: Breaking the Swiss Grid
with Stephen Coles

Co-presented by Poster House
Online Lecture at Letterform Archive
Tue, Feb 2, 2021
1:00pm–2:30pm
Masters of Arabic Letters
with Bahia Shehab, Haytham Nawar

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture at Letterform Archive
Tue, Jan 26, 2021
12:00pm–1:30pm
Keeping Occupied
with Cyrus Highsmith

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Dec 8, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
Salon Series 25: A Brief Typographic Trip Around the World, Part 2
with Stephen Coles, Tanya George, Ksenya Samarskaya, John Hudson, Florence Fu, Mota Italic, Erin McLaughlin, Maria Doreuli

Online Lecture
Thu, Nov 19, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
Basque Lettering: Letters for Self-Assertion
with Juan Luis Blanco

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Nov 17, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
Design through 125 Years of Pin-Back Buttons
with Christen Carter

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Nov 3, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
Gato Negro Live with the Archive
with Gato Negro, León Muñoz Santini, Andrea García Flores

Online Lecture
Thu, Oct 29, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
To Make Generally Known
with Jon Sueda

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Oct 20, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
Salon Series 24: The Complexity of Simple Things: Making Design Memorable
with Jennifer Morla

Online Event
Thu, Sep 24, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
Salon Series 23: Making The Black Panther, A Conversation
with Emory Douglas, Stephen Coles

Online Event
Thu, Aug 27, 2020
12:00pm–1:00pm
The Chinese Type Archive
with Synoptic Office, Stephanie Winarto, Mac Wang

Online Lecture
Tue, Jul 21, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
Under Construction: Jurriaan Schrofer’s Letters
with Maurice Meilleur

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Jul 7, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
Atlas Obscura: Between the Margins at Letterform Archive
with Kate Long, Grendl Löfkvist, Stephen Coles

An Atlas Obscura Experience
Online Tour
Thu, Jul 2, 2020
1:00pm–2:00pm
Fake Graphics for Real Movies: Graphic Design in Animated Film
with Paul Conrad, Craig Foster, Laura Meyer, Pixar Animation Studios

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Jun 30, 2020
12:00pm–1:00pm
Salon Series 22: Counterculture Periodicals
with Hank Smith

Online Lecture
Thu, Jun 25, 2020
12:00pm–1:00pm
SF Design Week: Letterform Archive Online
with Jon Sueda, Robin Marich, chris hamamoto, Julio Martinez

A San Francisco Design Week Event
Panel Discussion
Mon, Jun 22, 2020
1:00pm–3:00pm
How to Kill a Writing System
with Zachary Scheuren, Ripon Chakma, Mangu Purty, Sunita Dangol, Vinodh Rajan

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Jun 16, 2020
12:00pm–1:30pm
Lockdown Letterheads Tour of the Online Archive
with Stephen Coles

Co-presented by Better Letters
Online Tour
Sat, Jun 6, 2020
9:30am–10:30am
Letterform Archive Salon Series 21: Martin Venezky
with Martin Venezky

Online Lecture
Thu, May 28, 2020
6:30pm–7:30pm
Online Archive Virtual Happy Hour (Evening Edition)
with Murray Grigo-McMahon, Jon Sueda, chris hamamoto, Kate Long, Rob Saunders, Stephen Coles

Online Tour
Thu, May 21, 2020
5:00pm–6:00pm
Online Archive Virtual Happy Hour (TDC Global Edition)
with Murray Grigo-McMahon, Jon Sueda, chris hamamoto, Kate Long, Rob Saunders, Stephen Coles

Co-presented by the TDC
Online Tour
Tue, May 19, 2020
12:00pm–1:00pm
A Typophile’s Twenty-Year Adventures in Zimbabwe
with Saki Mafundikwa

Co-presented by San Francisco Public Library
Online Lecture
Tue, Apr 28, 2020
6:00pm–7:30pm
~~Typography is a Meditation~~ (postponed)
with Hope Meng

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Mar 31, 2020
6:00pm–7:30pm
~~“A Learning Archive” at Type Drives Culture~~ (postponed)
with Stephen Coles

Lecture at Parsons School of Design, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall
Fri, Mar 27, 2020
8:30am–7:30pm
A Brief Typographic Trip Around the World, Part 1
with Stephen Coles, Nadine Chahine

Presented by the Center for Book Arts
Online Lecture
Thu, Mar 19, 2020
3:30pm–5:30pm
~~Too Black/Ain’t Black Enough, or Stereotype and Truth: Typography in African American periodicals, popular culture, and artists’ books~~ (postponed)
with Tia Blassingame

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Mar 17, 2020
6:00pm–7:30pm
~~Archives by Design: Preserving the Work of Designers~~ (postponed)
with Rob Saunders

Panel Discussion at School of Visual Arts, New York
Wed, Mar 11, 2020
5:30pm–9:00pm
More is More, Sometimes. In Defense of Display Typefaces.
with Marta Bernstein

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Mar 3, 2020
6:00pm–7:30pm
Why Your Process Matters, and How to Preserve It
with Rob Saunders

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Feb 18, 2020
6:00pm–7:30pm
Politics of Arabic Type Design
with Nadine Chahine

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Wed, Jan 29, 2020
6:00pm–7:30pm
Collected Conversation
with Kate Long

Panel Discussion at Fruitsuper
Wed, Dec 4, 2019
6:00pm–7:00pm
Beyond Exemplars and Ductus
with John Stevens

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Nov 19, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Surprise Salon: The Wood Type Prints of Jack Stauffacher
with Rob Saunders

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Nov 14, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Notes on Icons and Design
with Susan Kare

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Nov 5, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
W.E.B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America
with Silas Munro

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Oct 29, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Live at the Archive: The Itinerant Printer
with Chris Fritton

Lecture at Letterform Archive
Thu, Oct 17, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Designs on Democracy: The Roles and Responsibilities of Graphic Designers in the Trump Era
with Sabiha Basrai

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Oct 15, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Live at the Archive: The Visual Literature of Warren Lehrer
with Warren Lehrer, Dennis J Bernstein

Lecture at Letterform Archive
Fri, Oct 11, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Salon Series 20: Arthur Baker
with Carl Crossgrove

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Sep 26, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Japanese Typography, Lettering, and Commercial Art in the Early Twentieth Century
with Florence Fu

Lecture at ATypI Conference
Thu, Sep 5, 2019
9:30am–10:00am
Salon Series 19: Wood Type
with Stephen Coles

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Aug 29, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
The Book Is Not a PDF
with Irma Boom

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Aug 27, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Touchy Feely
with Ellen Lupton

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jul 30, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Salon Series 18: Fashion
with Florence Fu, Priscilla (Skilla) Zaccalini

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Jul 25, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate
with Carolyn Porter

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jul 16, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
BEEF PORK LAMB VEAL & TYPE
with Tobias Frere-Jones, Nina Stössinger

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jul 2, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Typography & Neon: Tenderloin Historical Ephemera Project
with Stephen Coles

A San Francisco Design Week Event
Panel Discussion at Tenderloin Museum
Thu, Jun 27, 2019
6:30pm–8:30pm
Salon Series 17: DADA and Surrealism
with Hank Smith

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Jun 27, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
The Chinese Typewriter: A History
with Tom Mullaney

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jun 18, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Salon Series 16: Judging Books By Their Covers
with Rob Saunders

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, May 30, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Live at the Archive: The Life and Design of Abram Games
with Naomi Games

Lecture at Letterform Archive
Thu, May 23, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Salon Series 15: CCA Students Present Type History
with

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Apr 25, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Survey of Korean Calligraphy, Typography, and Print
with Lars Kim

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Apr 2, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Salon Series 14: Design and Music
with Kate Long

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Mar 28, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Designing for Musicians
with Mary Banas, James Edmondson, Jason Munn, Kate Long

Co-presented by Astro Studios
Panel Discussion & Pop-up Exhibit at Astro Studios
Thu, Mar 21, 2019
5:30pm–7:30pm
Inventing the Adlam Script / Designing Type for a Society in Flux
with Abdoulaye Barry, Ibrahima Barry, Mark Jamra, Neil Patel

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Mar 19, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Letters: A Code System
with Lynne Yun

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Mar 5, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Salon Series 13: 1990s Design
with Elise Carlton

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Feb 28, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Calligraphy in the Digital Age
with Rick Paulus

Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Feb 19, 2019
6:00pm–7:30pm
Salon Series 12: CODEX Artists
with Hank Smith

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Jan 31, 2019
6:30pm–7:30pm
Salon Series 11: Type Specimen Ephemera
with Stephen Coles

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Nov 29, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
The Graphic Vocabulary of Modern Kinetic Typography
with Greg D’Onofrio

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Nov 13, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Children’s Books: A Type Story
with Kate Long

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Nov 6, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
New Light on Old Types: A History of Type Design – Revisited
with Stan Knight

Offered by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Oct 30, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Salon Series 10: the Occult
with Elise Carlton

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Oct 25, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
Time to Spare: Type and Tectonics
with Doug Clouse

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Oct 16, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Live at the Archive: Aaron Marcus Presents Universal Visible Languages
with Aaron Marcus

Lecture at Letterform Archive
Thu, Oct 11, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
Archive Salon Series 09: Jacob Jongert
with Rob Saunders

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Sep 27, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
Archive Salon Series 08: Rudolf Koch
with Oriol Miró Genovart

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Aug 30, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
Live at the Archive: Underware
with Underware

Lecture at Letterform Archive
Thu, Aug 9, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
Type in Film
with Louise Sandhaus

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jul 31, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Archive Salon Series 07: Travel Ephemera
with Tânia Raposo

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Jul 26, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
Everything’s in Progress: Redefining the Way Type Design is Released
with Lizy Joy Gershenzon

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jul 17, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Typographic Testing Grounds: Job Printing, Small-scale Web Projects, and Innovative Typeface Design
with Nick Sherman

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jul 10, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Archive Salon Series 06: Ladislav Sutnar
with Rob Saunders

Lecture at Letterform Archive
Thu, Jun 28, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
Owning It: Type Design and Intellectual Property
with Jeremy Mickel

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jun 12, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Archive Salon Series 05: Artists’ Books: Makers and Materials
with Amelia Grounds

Lecture at Letterform Archive
Thu, May 31, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
Preserving Graphic Design Process
with Rob Saunders, Stephen Coles

Exhibition at TYPO Berlin
Thu–Sat, May 17–19, 2018
10:00am–8:00pm
Dwiggins and Hingham
with Bruce Kennett

Lecture at Hingham Public Library, Hingham, MA
Thu, May 3, 2018
7:00pm–8:45pm
Dwiggins at HOW Design Live
with Bruce Kennett

Lecture at HOW Design Live, Boston
Thu, May 3, 2018
10:00am–10:45am
Dwiggins at the BPL
with Bruce Kennett

Lecture at Boston Public Library
Wed, May 2, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Archive Salon Series 04: Advocacy and Activism
with Kate Long

Lecture at Letterform Archive
Thu, Apr 26, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Dwiggins at Left Bank Books
with Bruce Kennett

Lecture at Left Bank Books, Hanover, NH
Tue, Apr 24, 2018
7:00pm–8:00pm
Archive Salon 03: New Uses for Old Type
with Stephen Coles

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Mar 29, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
The Multi-Faceted W. A. Dwiggins
with Bruce Kennett

Lecture at Arts and Letters Club of Toronto
Tue, Mar 20, 2018
6:00pm–7:00pm
Indigenous Font Design and the Ripple Effect
with Juliet Shen

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Mar 20, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Super-Veloz: Modular Modern
with Alexander Tochilovsky

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Mar 13, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Roma e Italia — Then, Since Then, & Now
with Carl Rohrs

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Mar 6, 2018
6:00pm–7:30pm
Archive Salon 02: Piet Zwart
with Rob Saunders

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Feb 22, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
DWIGFEST! A Celebration of W. A. Dwiggins: A Life in Design
with Steven Heller, Bruce Kennett, Rob Saunders

Salon at Type Directors Club, New York
Wed, Feb 7, 2018
6:30pm–8:30pm
Archive Salon 01: Identity Manuals
with

Salon at Letterform Archive
Thu, Jan 25, 2018
6:30pm–7:30pm
Souped-up Font Formats
with Dan Rhatigan

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Nov 7, 2017
6:00pm–7:30pm
Before Desktop Publishing: The Democratization of Type in the Cold Type Era
with Briar Levit

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Oct 17, 2017
6:00pm–7:30pm
The Proliferation of 19th- (and 20th-) Century Wood Type and Its Impact on Typographic Norms
with David Shields

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Oct 3, 2017
6:00pm–7:30pm
The Ephemeral Nature of Lettering Arts
with

Hosted by Bankside Design District
Lecture at Devonshire House
Wed, Sep 20, 2017
7:00pm–9:00pm
The Past 100 Years of the Future
with Aaron Marcus

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Sep 19, 2017
6:00pm–7:30pm
Archiving Your Graphic Portfolio
with Rob Saunders

Lecture at Sackler Centre for arts education
Sun, Sep 17, 2017
12:00pm–1:00pm
Pre-digital Type Specimens: Aggregation, Examination, and Dissemination
with Stephen Coles

Lecture at ATypI Conference
Sat, Sep 16, 2017
9:30am–10:00am
W. A. Dwiggins, Hermann Püterschein, and the Fictional Society of Calligraphers
with Bruce Kennett

Lecture at TypeCon
Fri, Aug 25, 2017
8:50am–9:20am
Avant Garde Show & Tell
with Rob Saunders

Lecture at SF Art Book Fair
Sat, Jul 22, 2017
3:00pm–4:00pm
Web Typography is just typography, sort of
with Amy Papaelias

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jul 18, 2017
6:00pm–7:30pm
The Value of Multi-Typeface Design
with Bethany Heck

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jul 11, 2017
6:00pm–7:30pm
Dwiggins & Linotype: The Official Releases
with Bruce Kennett

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jun 20, 2017
6:00pm–7:30pm
Recontextualizing Type in Motion
with Mindy Seu

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Jun 6, 2017
6:00pm–7:30pm
Design History as a Model for Contemporary Practice
with Alexander Tochilovsky

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium

6:00pm
For Display Only
with James Edmondson

Co-presented by Type@Cooper West
Lecture at SFPL Main Library, Koret Auditorium
Tue, Mar 7, 2017
6:00pm–7:30pm