SAN FRANCISCO — As type design continues to shed its historical reputation as an esoteric, closed-door craft and evolves into a vibrant, globally connected discipline, securing its future has become an urgent priority for industry leaders. Enter the Small Foundry Fund, a groundbreaking, community-driven funding initiative designed to broaden access to Type West, the world-renowned, yearlong postgraduate certificate program in type design offered by the Letterform Archive. Celebrating its milestone tenth year, Type West has spent a decade shaping the global typographic landscape. Available both in-person at the Archive’s San Francisco headquarters and online to students worldwide, the program has become a cornerstone of modern design education. Now, through a collaborative giving model spearheaded by independent foundries and kickstarted by a generous multi-year foundational gift from prominent type designer David Jonathan Ross, the initiative aims to dismantle financial barriers and ensure that the future of type is as diverse as the communities it serves. Main Facts: What is the Small Foundry Fund and Type West? At its core, the Small Foundry Fund is a collective philanthropy vehicle powered by independent, small-scale type foundries. By pooling their resources, participating foundries directly subsidize Type West, heavily prioritizing scholarships for young and emerging type designers worldwide who might otherwise find the rigorous program financially out of reach. The Program: Type West is an intensive, yearlong postgraduate certificate curriculum dedicated entirely to the art and science of type design. It combines historical grounding with hands-on technical execution, small-group instruction, and personalized mentorship from industry veterans. The Fund’s Purpose: To provide robust scholarship funding, eliminating financial hardship as an entry barrier and attracting top-tier global talent to the field. The Commitment Model: The Fund operates on a tiered, multi-year contribution structure designed to accommodate varying studio sizes: Minimum Commitment: $500 annually for a minimum of three years. Tiered Giving Levels: $1,000, $2,500, and $5,000 scaling upward based on foundry capacity. Annual Deadline: To align seamlessly with the Type West admission and academic scheduling cycle, annual contributions must be received by October 1 of each year. Beyond Financial Support: Participating members are not merely financial donors; the Fund offers opportunities for deeper engagement, fostering a direct pipeline between independent foundries and the rising stars of type design. Chronology of an Evolution: A Decade of Type West and the Birth of the Fund To understand the significance of the Small Foundry Fund, it is essential to trace the trajectory of Type West and the broader democratization of the type industry over the past ten years. 2016–2018 (The Inception): As the Letterform Archive established itself as a premier cultural institution dedicated to the history of lettering, typography, calligraphy, and graphic design, the leadership recognized a critical gap in contemporary education: specialized, rigorous, small-cohort training in type design was scarce and geographically concentrated. 2016–2018 (Launch of Type West): Letterform Archive launched Type West in San Francisco. Designed to bridge historical context with contemporary digital toolsets, the program quickly earned a stellar reputation for producing exceptional technical and artistic talent. 2020–2023 (Digital Expansion): Responding to global demand and the necessity of remote learning during the pandemic, Type West expanded its offerings to include a robust global online track. This move broke down geographic borders, welcoming students from every corner of the planet. 2024–2025 (The Tenth Anniversary): Type West celebrated its tenth anniversary, boasting a rapidly expanding roster of successful alumni making waves across global design studios, independent foundries, and corporate branding teams. An alumni spotlight initiative highlighted the profound global impact of the program’s graduates. April 2026 (The Small Foundry Fund Launch): Recognizing that soaring tuition costs and economic pressures threatened to gatekeep the discipline, independent designer David Jonathan Ross stepped forward with a visionary multi-year foundational donation. This catalyst led directly to the formal establishment of the Small Foundry Fund, transforming individual goodwill into an organized, institutional safety net. Supporting Data & Financial Structure The economics of type design education are unique. Quality instruction requires low student-to-faculty ratios, expensive software licenses, specialized hardware, and deep archival access. Consequently, tuition reflects these intensive resource demands, often pricing out brilliant creative minds from underrepresented socioeconomic backgrounds. The Mechanics of Collective Giving The Small Foundry Fund solves this structural challenge through distributed micro-philanthropy. Rather than relying on a single corporate benefactor or large endowment, the Fund harnesses the collective strength of the independent foundry ecosystem. Tiered Scalability: Recognizing that a one-person micro-foundry has a vastly different cash flow than a mid-sized independent operation with three or four employees, the Fund’s tiered framework ($500, $1,000, $2,500, and $5,000) ensures equitable participation. The Three-Year Pledge: By requiring a three-year minimum commitment, the Letterform Archive can reliably forecast scholarship budgets, offering incoming students predictable financial aid packages when they accept their offers of admission. Timing: The hard annual deadline of October 1 ensures that scholarship allocations are locked in well before the academic cohort is finalized, streamlining the financial aid distribution process. Official Responses and Perspectives The launch of the Small Foundry Fund has generated immense enthusiasm within the typographic community, underscored by a shared recognition that the industry’s future health depends on deliberate inclusivity. David Jonathan Ross on Opening the Industry David Jonathan Ross, whose foundational multi-year gift ignited the creation of the Fund, reflected on his nearly two decades in the trade: "During my 18 years in the type industry, I feel like I’ve been watching the craft of type design begin to blossom. It no longer feels like the closed-off, tucked-away, mystical practice that it once did. The industry feels more open than I have ever seen it—open to sharing knowledge and open to including new and diverse voices in the typographic conversation. It cannot be overstated what a big part Type West and programs like it have played in this change, and I hope that what I’ve seen is just the start." Ross further emphasized the pragmatic, human element of supporting emerging designers through collective action: "As a small, one-person foundry, I’ve wondered what I can do to help remove financial hardship as a barrier to entry in our field… simply attending Type West is already rigorous enough without having to worry about how to pay for it! By pooling my small contribution with those from other foundries like mine, I hope we can make a real dent, and support not only budding type designers but also the incredible efforts of the faculty and staff at Type West." Letterform Archive’s Institutional Vision Leadership at the Letterform Archive has consistently championed the idea that typography belongs to everyone. By creating structured pathways for independent foundries to invest in students, the Archive is actively decentralizing the gatekeeping mechanisms that historically plagued traditional art and design education. The institution views the Fund not merely as a charity initiative, but as an active stewardship of the craft’s future. Implications: Securing Diversity, Creativity, and the Future of Type The rollout of the Small Foundry Fund carries profound implications for the typographic landscape at large. 1. Broadening Geographic and Socioeconomic Diversity Type design has historically suffered from homogeneity, often restricted to those with the financial privilege to step away from full-time employment or absorb heavy educational debt. By funding scholarships specifically aimed at young and emerging international designers, the Small Foundry Fund will inject fresh cultural perspectives, non-Latin scripts, and unique vernacular influences into the global typographic mainstream. 2. Strengthening the Independent Foundry Ecosystem By directly tying independent foundries to the educational pipeline, the Fund creates a symbiotic ecosystem. Foundries investing in the Fund help cultivate the very talent they may one day hire, collaborate with, or look to for industry innovation. This engagement bridges the gap between academic theory and commercial practice. 3. Preserving Personalized, High-Touch Education World-class type instruction cannot be scaled through massive open online courses (MOOCs) alone; it demands granular, line-by-line critique of vector points, kerning pairs, and optical sizing by seasoned masters. By securing financial stability for Type West through recurring philanthropic pledges, the Letterform Archive ensures that the program can maintain its rigorous, small-group format without compromising educational quality or pricing out promising candidates. How to Get Involved Independent foundries, type designers, and design advocates interested in joining the Small Foundry Fund, exploring donor acknowledgment tiers, or scheduling a contribution can reach out directly to the institution. Contact: Lisa Coscino, Associate Director of Membership and Philanthropy Action Item: Prospective donor foundries are encouraged to review the tiered giving framework and submit annual commitments ahead of the October 1 deadline. As Type West enters its second decade, the Small Foundry Fund stands as a testament to what a community can achieve when it decides to pull up the ladder and let others climb. Through shared resources and a collective passion for letters, the independent type community is actively writing the next chapter of typographic history. Post navigation Preserving the Pixel and the Page: Inside the Complete Digitization of the Emigre Font Development Files Stitching History Together: Jada Simone Haynes Explores Lineage, Preservation, and Resistance in ‘Black Memory Scholar’
