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A type revival story: lessons from Type West
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Last Fall, I began the Type West program at the Letterform Archive in San Francisco. For those of you who don’t know, the Letterform Archive is creative heaven — a type nerd’s letter art collection turned graphic design museum.
I had been considering applying to this type design program for a while. Despite having practiced design and lettering for several years, I still felt like my work was missing a level of finesse, specifically in the realm of typography. I wanted to command type beyond placing them in layout, in ways that were unique, exciting, experimental.
I don’t see myself making fonts for a living, but Type West seemed like a program that would uplevel my graphic design skills. Every time I visit the Archive, I leave completely over-inspired from seeing art history classics like illuminated manuscripts and psychedelic posters, to new discoveries (for me) like Letraset and Mid-Century brand manuals. Finally, I decided to bite the bullet and applied. Shortly after getting admitted into the program, I was given the first major assignment: revive a typeface.
A very brief history of type design. Digital type, or “fonts” as most of us know it…