A Decade of Type: Letterform Archive Celebrates 10 Years of the Type West Design Certificate Program

SAN FRANCISCO — In the world of graphic design, typography is often treated as the invisible architecture of communication—a silent vehicle meant to deliver a message without drawing attention to itself. Yet, for the past ten years, Letterform Archive has championing the bold, experimental, and deeply historical art of letterforms through its flagship educational initiative: Type West.

To mark its milestone tenth anniversary, Letterform Archive is hosting a sweeping retrospective exhibition. Titled Type for All! Ten Years of Type West, the landmark showcase runs from September 26 to November 15, 2026, in the organization’s main gallery. Featuring more than 260 examples of student work, the exhibition traces the evolution of a unique pedagogy that successfully bridges historical reverence with contemporary digital and physical craft.

Main Facts: The Exhibition and Milestone

The retrospective is more than just a display of pretty fonts; it is a comprehensive look into the arduous, creative journey of type design. Curated by Grendl Löfkvist, Dean of Type West, and Angela Riechers, Education Director at Letterform Archive, the exhibition presents finished, fully realized digital fonts alongside the raw artifacts of the studio. Visitors can examine initial analog sketches, iterative printing proofs, and detailed instructor markups that guide a student from a rough concept to a functional, multi-weight type family.

Adding to the physical exhibition’s breadth, Letterform Archive has published a celebratory 64-page softcover book also titled Type for All! Ten Years of Type West. The publication highlights a select showcase of the program’s finest student typefaces and emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between the Archive’s vast physical collection and the original work produced by certificate candidates.

The catalog and exhibition are designed to be accessible. The softcover book is available for free in the gallery and can be ordered for shipping worldwide for just $1 until October 18, 2026.

Chronology: From Cooper Union to a Global Classroom

The story of Type West is one of steady growth, adaptation, and geographic expansion.

• 2016 (Inception): The program began life as Type@Cooper West, an in-person, hands-on educational experience founded in collaboration with New York City’s prestigious Cooper Union. Early cohorts produced seminal student projects like Camille Sibucao’s Ickhambay and Kimberly Rhee’s Florrence.
• 2018 (Independence): Following an amicable parting of ways with Cooper Union, the program rebranded simply as Type West. Operating independently under the umbrella of Letterform Archive, it solidified its reputation as a West Coast epicenter for typographic education.
• 2021 (Going Global): Adapting to the changing educational landscape, Type West launched an online cohort. This digital expansion shattered geographical barriers, transforming the program into an international melting pot. Today, students hailing from 31 different countries—ranging from Argentina to Zimbabwe—participate in the rigorous year-long certificate program.
• 2026 (The Decade Mark): Marking its tenth year, the program boasts an alumni network of over 260 individuals whose contributions are now commemorated in the Type for All! retrospective.

Supporting Data and Curation Challenges

Mounting an exhibition that encapsulates a decade of type design presented logistical hurdles that nearly overwhelmed the curatorial team. Organizers faced the daunting task of curating a representative sample out of hundreds of completed projects while balancing large-format work with smaller pieces, process sketches with specimen posters, and contributions from both in-person and online cohorts.

The most pressing challenge, however, was honoring every single graduate.

"For a while, we were pulling our hair out seeking a solution within physical space constraints and page count," Riechers recalled in exhibition notes. "A critical consideration was to include the name and typeface of all students awarded a Type West certificate."

The solution was as elegant as it was typographic: organizers compiled a running list of every student’s name set in their own designed typeface. This comprehensive roster serves as the visual greeting on the gallery wall as visitors enter Letterform Archive, and forms the final, striking endpapers of the anniversary book.

Gathering the data required tracking down over 260 individuals to secure their original OpenType Font (OTF) files. "The process required spreadsheets—so many spreadsheets!—and a great deal of administrative help," Riechers noted. "Type people are good people; the alumni rallied admirably and soon the emails were pouring in."

Official Responses and Pedagogical Philosophy

At the heart of Type West’s success is a rotating roster of world-class instructors who bring professional rigor balanced with profound humility to the studio. The current lead instructors, Maria (“Masha”) Doreuli and Sahar Afshar, continue a tradition of excellence established by past educators.

Reflecting on the program’s legacy, Sahar Afshar observed: "I have witnessed so many graduates making meaningful contributions to our world of type in their local communities."

Students themselves consistently point to the program as a transformative turning point in their creative lives. Estefania Leyva, a graduate of the 2022 cohort who designed the typeface Umbral, shared: "Learning type design at Type West was a transformative experience that deepened my appreciation for the intricacies of letterforms and taught me to be patient and flexible in my design process."

Burçin Canbay, a 2025 graduate and creator of Topkapi, echoed this sentiment: "Type West trained my eye to evaluate the proportion, rhythm, and spacing of letters with clarity. I learned to approach type design as both a historical discipline and a contemporary practice."

A defining feature of the curriculum is how it leverages Letterform Archive’s physical collection. Throughout the exhibition, student typefaces are paired directly with items from the Archive—demonstrating how designers draw inspiration from historical sources. The Archive treats ephemera and disposable vernacular design with the same reverence as centuries-old handbound volumes. Whether looking at Rob Roy Kelly’s American wood type specimens from the 19th century or political posters from the 1968 Atelier Populaire in Paris, students are encouraged to filter historical materials through their own cultural backgrounds, lived experiences, and personal design sensibilities.

The results are remarkably diverse. While many students master traditional classifications like Old Style or Modern, others push boundaries across writing systems—including Latin, Arabic, Indic, Kanji, and Indigenous North American scripts. Some projects engage directly with physical manufacturing methods: Ryan Molloy (Type West 2021) engineered his typeface Banch without right angles so the counters could be physically cut from wood using a router. Others capture nostalgic cultural movements, such as Joshua Michael Diaz’s (Type West 2023) multiweight, bell-bottomed script Undertone, which channels the groovy aesthetics of the 1960s and ’70s.

Implications: The Rising Tide of Type West Alumni

The true measure of any educational program lies in the trajectory of its graduates. Ten years in, the professional impact of Type West alumni is sending ripples across the global design industry.

Program graduates are increasingly recognized on international stages. Eugime Lee (Type West 2025) was recently named one of the prestigious Art Directors Club Young Ones student winners. Others, like Joke De Winter (Type West 2023), have used the certificate as a stepping stone to further specialized education, such as the renowned Master’s program at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom.

Furthermore, a growing number of alumni are taking entrepreneurial leaps and founding independent foundries. Success stories include:

• Libbie Bischoff (Type West 2023), who launched Type du Nord.
• Chris Skillern (Type West 2021), founder of Tulsey Type.
• Joshua Michael Diaz (Type West 2023), who established The Type Fella.
• Iván Castro (Type West 2025), whose font Ecléctica was licensed through Argentina’s prominent Sudtipos foundry.

For the faculty and staff at Letterform Archive, seeing these typefaces deployed in the real world—spotting an alumni font set gigantically on a billboard, integrated into a global corporate brand identity, rolling across a movie screen as a film title, or neatly typeset in the pages of a book—evokes a deeply personal reaction.

"We feel an almost parental flash of pride," Riechers writes, "seeing our little characters all grown up and out on their own."

As Type for All! welcomes visitors through mid-November 2026, it serves as a testament to what can be achieved when an institution commits to preserving the past while actively investing in the hands, minds, and creative futures of the next generation of type designers.