Letterform Archive

Letterform Archive A nonprofit center for inspiration, education, publishing, and community in graphic design and type. We are open to all who love letters.

Letterform Archive is a nonprofit center for inspiration, education, publishing, and community.

Last 2 weeks to see Tone in Tongue in our Reading Room gallery! As we move into preparing our main gallery for the next ...
09/06/2026

Last 2 weeks to see Tone in Tongue in our Reading Room gallery! As we move into preparing our main gallery for the next show, Tone in Tongue viewing will be by appointment only until it closes on September 20th. Make sure to come check it out while it’s still up and grab some limited edition exhibition merch (while supplies last). ⁠
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http://www.letterformarchive.org/visit
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Jesse M. Kahn, TFT Q***r Gothic type specimen, United States, 2025⁠⁠Unleash the typeface within you by joining the 2027 ...
09/05/2026

Jesse M. Kahn, TFT Q***r Gothic type specimen, United States, 2025⁠
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Unleash the typeface within you by joining the 2027 cohort of Type West!⁠
Join us for an open house with students and instructors who will answer questions about the program.⁠
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Type West 2027 Online Open House⁠
Saturday, October 27, 2026⁠
11:30am–1:00pm PT (7:30pm–9:00pm GMT)⁠
Online via Zoom⁠

Reserve your Spot: https://letterformarchive.org/shop/type-west-2027-online-open-house/
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Join us in celebrating ten years of Type West in this exclusive members & alumni mixer/opening reception. ⁠⁠Type for All...
09/05/2026

Join us in celebrating ten years of Type West in this exclusive members & alumni mixer/opening reception. ⁠
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Type for All! Members & Alumni Reception⁠
Sat, Sep 26, 2026⁠
5:00pm-6:30pm PT⁠
In-Person at Letterform Archive⁠
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This exhibition emphasizes the relationship between Letterform Archive’s collection and the typefaces produced by the students. With 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, and highlights a curated showcase of the very best student work in posters, specimens, process books, and sketches.⁠
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Type specimen 1: Lavandula by Libbie Bischoff, Minnesota, 2020 ⁠
Type Specimen 2: Mabuhay by Clara Cayosa, Phillipines, 2023⁠
Type Specimen 3: Thumbelena by Schessa Garbutt, California, 2021⁠
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https://letterformarchive.org/shop/type-for-all-members-alumni-reception/
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Get 10% off every title in our collection during our first-ever Labor Day Sale, from Thursday, Sep 3rd, to Tuesday, Sep ...
09/03/2026

Get 10% off every title in our collection during our first-ever Labor Day Sale, from Thursday, Sep 3rd, to Tuesday, Sep 8th! New and existing members enjoy an additional 10% discount.⁠
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From a compendium of Japanese modernist design to a survey of type’s role in protest graphics across centuries, our publications bring the breadth of the Letterform Archive collection into your hands.⁠
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www.letterformarchive.org/shop
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Letterform Archive vous invite à une visite guidée en ligne pour découvrir une petite partie de son immense collection.⁠...
09/03/2026

Letterform Archive vous invite à une visite guidée en ligne pour découvrir une petite partie de son immense collection.⁠
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Archiver, c’est choisir (To Archive Is to Choose) with Carine Vadet-Perrot, Milosh Sokolikj⁠
Wed, Sep 30, 2026⁠
8:30pm–10:00pm CEST (11:30am–1:00pm PT)⁠
Online via Zoom⁠
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Archiver, c'est choisir: que choisit-on de montrer, de conserver, de transmettre? À l'occasion de France Design Week, cette visite guidée en français explore les collections en ligne de Letterform Archive, fonds d'archives graphiques et typographiques basé à San Francisco. À travers une sélection d'œuvres, nous partagerons les défis d'une archive et d'une visite guidée : sélectionner, raconter, relier les sujets à notre réalité, et vous donner envie de revenir explorer par vous-même.⁠
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Cette visite en français sera présentée par Carine Vadet-Perrot et Milosh Sokolikj.⁠

https://letterformarchive.org/shop/archiver-c-est-choisir-to-archive-is-to-choose/?sku=EVENT_IT_26-09-30-GE
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Archiving means making choices: what do we choose to show, to preserve, to pass on? For France Design Week, this French-language guided tour explores the online collections of Letterform Archive, an archive of graphic and typographic design based in San Francisco. Through a selection of works, we'll share the challenges of running an archive and building a guided tour: selecting, storytelling, connecting the objects to our present—and inspiring you to come back and explore on your own.⁠
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This online tour will be conducted in French and will be hosted by our docents Carine Vadet-Perrot and Milosh Sokolikj.⁠
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Presented as a set of 60 inside a giftable box, these bold, colorful postcards preserve an early design statement of one...
08/28/2026

Presented as a set of 60 inside a giftable box, these bold, colorful postcards preserve an early design statement of one of the 20th century’s most enduring movements. ⁠
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From the expressionism of Klee and Kandinsky to the modernism of Herbert Bayer and László Moholy-Nagy, Bauhaus Postcards allows readers to send (or keep!) a precious piece of design history. https://letterformarchive.org/shop/bauhaus-postcards/
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08/27/2026

Come celebrate our students from 31 countries and their quirky, beautiful, and (yes!) practical typefaces.⁠
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Type For All! Ten Years of Type West⁠
Sat, Sep 26, 2026⁠
6:00pm–7:30pm PT⁠
In-Person at Letterform Archive⁠
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This special exhibition helps mark ten years of Type West, showcasing original typefaces from each cohort alongside the pieces in our collection that inspired them. Alongside finished designs, the show reveals the studio process itself, from early sketches through instructor markups, representing every graduate of the certificate program.⁠
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Tap this image from the link in our bio to reserve your spot in advance. ⁠
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Dynamic, unconventional, and assertive typefaces from Roger Excoffon, the French type design icon behind Mistral, presen...
08/26/2026

Dynamic, unconventional, and assertive typefaces from Roger Excoffon, the French type design icon behind Mistral, presented in ten facsimiles of Fonderie Olive specimens from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s.⁠
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This facsimile reproduces specimens of typefaces by midcentury maestro Roger Excoffon. Covering his entire career with Olive, the family foundry he transformed into an international trendsetter, the selection features dazzling specimens by Excoffon himself and generously includes examples of every typeface he created for the company. ⁠
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Shop the collection: https://letterformarchive.org/shop/type-by-bernhard-excoffon-novarese-collected-specimen-booklets-bundle/
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Address

2325 Third Street Floor 4R
San Francisco, CA
94107

Opening Hours

Thursday 1pm - 8pm
Friday 11am - 6pm
Saturday 11am - 6pm
Sunday 11am - 6pm

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+14158027485

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