This exhibition celebrates ten years of Type West, emphasizing the relationship between Letterform Archive’s collection and the original typefaces produced by the students. By displaying original typefaces from every cohort since the program’s inception, the show tracks the evolution of a pedagogy that balances historical reverence with contemporary practice. The gallery follows the curriculum’s timeline, opening with a small selection of the revival typefaces developed in Term One—housed in the entry cases—before dedicating the main space to the creation of original typefaces. Ten items from the Archive are paired directly with student work, illustrating how the collection provides the typographic context and inspiration necessary for new design. Additional student work will be displayed without an Archive pairing.
The exhibit will highlight a curated showcase of the very best student work in posters, specimens, process books, and sketches. Every student who completed the certificate program will be represented, perhaps as a one-line specimen or even a single character from their typeface.
To show the critical design process, the exhibition displays the artifacts of the studio: initial sketches, iterative proofs, and the instructor markups that guide a student from a rough idea to a functional font. This process showcases the diversity of the student body, where varying life experiences and world cultures inform the specific logic of each typeface. The work on display represents a shift in technical requirements, as a full Latin extended character set is now a standard deliverable for every graduate.
The exhibition will demonstrate how Type West has adapted its instruction to support students from around the world, working online as well as those who attend classes in-person. Workshops once rooted in physical presence—such as stonecutting and Roman brushwork—were modified for different environments, ensuring the craft translated across digital and analog formats. Examples of each type of work will be shown.