Type West Online

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 (3) ten-week terms is supported by two (2) weekend/weeknight 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 and currently held online, featuring visiting scholars and industry professionals and covering a wide range of topics on lettering, calligraphy, type, and more.

Type West 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.

Students also benefit from free access to the Letterform Archive Salon Series which offers different viewpoints on our extensive collection.

Type West Online Instructors

Type Design

Graham Bradley, Lead Instructor, runs Roxaboxen, a California-based design studio specializing in typefaces and brand identities. He has been an instructor at Type West since its inception in 2018 and leads all three terms of the 2021 program. Before founding Roxaboxen, Graham was the first employee at Frere-Jones Type, where he worked with Tobias Frere-Jones on Mallory and Retina. He is a graduate of the [email protected] program at The Cooper Union, and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

Kel Troughton is a type designer and lettering artist who gets an equal amount of inspiration from mid-century advertising and Bay Area graffiti. He graduated from the [email protected] West program in 2018, was the teaching assistant for Type West in 2019, and worked at Monotype. You can find him in the East Bay drawing letters and you can find his typeface Oaks on Future Fonts.

Fer Cozzi is an independent type designer from Argentina. She graduated from the University of Buenos Aires where she earned a postgraduate specialization in Type Design and now teaches in the school’s Master of Typeface Design program. Fer has participated in several typography events around the world, and her work has been selected for renowned typography exhibitions and competitions.

Carl Crossgrove studied fine art, printmaking, and book arts, eventually focusing on typeface design at Rochester Institute of Technology. He fulfilled internships at Adobe’s type design group in the 1990s, and designed typefaces for Monotype for nearly 20 years. Carl’s background in calligraphy and drawing infuses his typefaces with humanism.

Type History & Theory

Ewan Clayton is the author of The Golden Thread, an essential book on the history of calligraphy and typography. He is currently teaching at the Royal Drawing School in London and the University of Sunderland, where he co-directs the International Calligraphy Research Centre. In 2013 he was awarded the first Karl-Georg Hoefer prize by The Schreibwerkstatt Klingspor for his work in calligraphy and education.

Briar Levit is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University. She spent her early career as Art Director of Bitch magazine, and as an independent book designer. Her feature-length documentary, Graphic Means, established an obsession with alternative design history, leading her to co-direct The People’s Graphic Design Archive and edit the book, Baseline Shift: Previously Untold Stories of Women Throughout Graphic Design History.

Silas Munro is a partner of Polymode, a design studio for poetic research, learning experiences, and clients in the cultural sphere, innovative businesses, and community-based organizations, including the city of LA, MoMA, and The New Museum. Silas’s writing appears in AIGA Eye on Design, Eye, Slanted, and Strikethrough: Typographic Messages of Protest. Silas is Founding Faculty and Chair Emeritus at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and co-founder of BIPOC Design History.

Workshops & Lectures

The Type West program is supplemented by evening and weekend workshops in type design, lettering, calligraphy, and typography for print and web design. The workshops are conducted by Type West’s core instructors, as well as guest designers and educators who are eminent in their fields. Many of the workshops are also open to public participation, and are accessible remotely in response to pandemic conditions.

The Letterform Lecture series complements the Type West curriculum with four presentations per term from luminaries in type, design, and research. Held at the San Francisco Public Library, the lectures are free and open to the public. The Archive also hosts a monthly Salon Series, highlighting specific aspects of our collection. Participants in the Type West Certificate Program get free entrance to the Salon Series and other special events.

Learn more about upcoming workshops and lectures and watch video of past lectures.

Schedule

The schedule for Type West Online 2023 will be posted soon.

The application period for Type West Online 2023 has closed. 
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