Type West In-Person

Pedagogy & Resources

The history and theory of type design serve as the basis for the core classes of type production. Students practice hand lettering, calligraphy, and drafting as a foundation for original letterform creation and master the digital tools necessary for making fonts. Class size is limited to allow for individual instruction.

Each of the three ten-week terms is supported by two weekend workshops, taught by leaders in the fields of typography and type design. The course curriculum is supplemented by the popular Letterform Lecture series, co-presented by the San Francisco Public Library, featuring visiting scholars and industry professionals, covering a wide range of topics on lettering, calligraphy, type design, and more.

Type West In-Person students have access to an unparalleled typographic library as they research and create their own original typefaces. Librarians, curators, and other members of the Archive’s knowledgeable staff guide students through thousands of type specimens, reference books, and original examples of lettering and graphic design. You'll have an opportunity to request and spend quality time with resources to support your work in regular study halls.

Students also benefit from free admission to the Letterform Archive Salon Series which offers different viewpoints on the Archive’s extensive collection.

Type West In-Person Instructors

Type Design

Maria Doreuli, Lead Instructor, earned masters degrees at the Moscow State University of Printing and the TypeMedia course at The Royal Academy of Art in the Hague. Her type has won numerous awards, including honors from the Type Directors Club and Morisawa. For several years she has run type design and lettering workshops in Russia and in 2014 she founded the Contrast Foundry in Moscow. Maria joins the full-year Type West faculty after serving as an instructor in 2021–2022.

Kel Troughton, Co-Instructor for Term 1, is a type designer, lettering artist, graffiti writer, and educator, living in Oakland CA. He started writing graffiti in 2000 and has continued to add letter-based interests ever since. Kel teaches workshops on type and lettering, as well as co-teaching in the Type West program since 2020. He studied Type design at Type@Cooper West, worked at Monotype, and currently works on freelance type and lettering projects. His company Overlap Type focuses on type design that utilizes ideas from his graffiti experience. In short, Kel is a letter person.

Christopher Slye, Co-Instructor for Term 2, is a type professional living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He first worked as an independent type designer, developer, and consultant before joining Adobe’s typographic staff in 1997, where he helped to expand the design and functionality of Adobe Originals typefaces. Later, he guided Adobe’s type-related technology and initiatives and contributed to the development of open web font standards. He eventually managed all aspects of Adobe’s business and type licensing programs, including the Adobe Fonts subscription service, until 2020. He was president of Type Network from 2021 to 2023.

Graham Bradley, Co-Instructor for Term 3, is a typeface designer and the founder of A+, where he works on original projects and custom commissions. Graham contributes to projects at MCKL, and got his start at Frere-Jones Type. He has been an instructor at Letterform Archive since 2017. He is a graduate of the Type@Cooper program at The Cooper Union, and the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Berkeley with his wife, cookbook author Maria Zizka, and their two boys.

Type History & Theory

Grendl Löfkvist, Dean of Type West, teaches type history and theory in the Certificate Program. Outside the Archive, Grendl teaches the history of graphic design, book arts, typography, and letterpress printing at City College of San Francisco, as well as calligraphy at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Grendl has ink in her veins: she was an offset press operator for 20 years, and she serves on the board of directors for the American Printing History Association’s Northern California chapter. Her interests include the study of printing as a subversive “Black Art” and she’s always on the lookout for bizarre or macabre print, type, and lettering lore (she is a bit of a goth).

Type West 2025 In-Person Schedule*

Trimester One

• Fundamentals of Typeface Design
  Mondays, 6–9pm PT, January 27 – April 7.
• Transformative Technologies
  Tuesdays, 6–8pm PT, January 28 – April 8 (except on the weeks when Letterform Lectures are in session).
• Two (2) weekend workshops taught by leaders in the fields of lettering and type design.
• Study Hall hours with items from the collection (schedule to be determined).

Trimester Two

• Original Typeface Design
  Mondays, 6–9pm PT, June 2 – August 11.
• The Lexicon of Power
  Tuesdays, 6–8pm PT, June 3 – August 12 (except on the weeks when Letterform Lectures are in session).
• Two (2) weekend workshops taught by leaders in the fields of lettering and type design.
• Study Hall hours with items from the collection (schedule to be determined).

Trimester Three

• Type Families
  Mondays, 6–9pm PT, September 29 – December 8.
• Cultural Impact
  Tuesdays, 6–8pm PT, September 30 – December 9 (except on the weeks when Letterform Lectures are in session).
• Two (2) weekend workshops taught by leaders in the fields of lettering and type design.
• Study Hall hours with items from the collection (schedule to be determined).

Tuition

The tuition for the 2025 program is $3,155 per term (there are three terms per year), which covers all workshops, lectures, software subscriptions, including RoboFont and Glyphs, and an Archive membership for the program year. We offer one BIPOC participant in both cohorts a full scholarship. The person to receive this scholarship is selected by the instructors who consider the strength of the application in making their determination.

The application period for Type West 2025 is now closed.