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.

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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Antiques Roadshow’s Nicholas Lowry joins us in person to screen the award-winning documentary, followed by a pop-up of C...
08/23/2026

Antiques Roadshow’s Nicholas Lowry joins us in person to screen the award-winning documentary, followed by a pop-up of Czech objects from Letterform Archive.

Identity – A Czech Graphic Design Love Story
with Nicholas Lowry, Michal Gregorini, Stephen Coles
Sun, Sep 27, 2026
5:00pm PM PST
In-Person at Letterform Archive

In Identita (Identity), world-renowned auctioneer and Czech-American Nicholas Lowry flies from New York to Prague as a passionate collector to map out what shaped the Czech national identity. Our tartan-suited guide explores the work of Vojtěch Preissig, Alfons Mucha, and Ladislav Sutnar; tries the famous Pilsner beer; travels to South Moravia in search of the aesthetics of wine labels; and much more, all while rediscovering his own Czech roots.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Lowry and the film’s producer Michal Gregorini, moderated by Letterform Archive’s Associate Curator Stephen Coles (who played a part in Identita’s companion television series).

This one is not to miss! Reserve your tickets here: https://letterformarchive.org/shop/film-screening-identity-a-czech-graphic-design-love-story/?sku=EVENT_LA_26-09-28-GE-1

In the boom years of the 1920s, Japanese designers developed a radical new vision for their profession. Engaging moderni...
08/20/2026

In the boom years of the 1920s, Japanese designers developed a radical new vision for their profession. Engaging modernist and avant-garde trends from abroad, refashioning local graphic and calligraphic forms, and using the latest tools and techniques, they poured fresh colors and expressive forms into all facets of consumer life, from streetscapes to the printed page. ⁠
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The Complete Commercial Artist, a twenty-four–volume compendium released between 1928 and 1930, is the most important—and most visually dazzling—document of this still underappreciated moment in global design history. https://letterformarchive.org/shop/complete-commercial-artist/
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Letterform Archive vous invite à une visite guidée en ligne pour découvrir une petite partie de son immense collection.⁠...
08/19/2026

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.⁠
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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.⁠

Reserve your spot: https://letterformarchive.org/shop/archiver-c-est-choisir-to-archive-is-to-choose/?sku=EVENT_IT_26-09-30-GE
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What does it really mean to use a grid? How do you know if you're using the right grid for the right project? And what p...
08/18/2026

What does it really mean to use a grid? How do you know if you're using the right grid for the right project? And what principles beyond the grid itself will best engage your intended audience?⁠
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Making the Invisible Visible: Designing with Grids with Maurizio Masi⁠
Wed, Sep 30 – Wed, Oct 14, 2026⁠
5:00pm–8:00pm PT (10:00am–1:00pm AEST)⁠
Online Via Zoom⁠
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Learn when to follow and when to break the page grid to create dynamic compositions.. Whether you are new to grids or looking for a refresher, this workshop explores how designers build, adapt, and break grids to support visual storytelling, from foundational concepts to advanced considerations such as baseline grids and typographic scaffolding.⁠
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Sign up before August 30th for a 10% discount! https://letterformarchive.org/shop/making-the-invisible-visible-designing-with-grids/
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Freshly commissioned for the release of Citizen Printer, Sista Said features 2 sets of 20 inspiring quotations, each wit...
08/17/2026

Freshly commissioned for the release of Citizen Printer, Sista Said features 2 sets of 20 inspiring quotations, each with a distinct background, reproduced in offset and presented in a keepsake box.⁠
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Includes quotations Ella Baker, Josephine Baker, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ruby Bridges, Fannie Lou Hamer, Zora Neale Hurston, June Jordan, Coretta Scott King, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Pauli Murray, Rosa Louise Parks, Lucy Parsons, Claudia Rankine, Ntozake Shange, Nina Simone, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, and Phillis Wheatley.⁠
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https://letterformarchive.org/shop/sista-said-trade/
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Join us Saturday, Sep 19, 2026 for a special guided tour for the Neon Speaks Festival with Archive associate curator, St...
08/16/2026

Join us Saturday, Sep 19, 2026 for a special guided tour for the Neon Speaks Festival with Archive associate curator, Stephen Coles. You’ll get hands-on access to original works and books on signs and lettering from this one-of-a-kind collection. ⁠
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See oversized movie theater banners, original artwork from the Speedball archive, an early-20th-century portfolio of neon photography, rare manuals on sign making, and other artifacts, including a major archive of original artwork by Wonderlite, a San Francisco neon sign company active in the 1920s–60s.⁠
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Letterform Archive Tour for Neon Speaks ⁠
Sat, Sep 19, 2026⁠
10:00am PT or 11:30am PT⁠
In-Person at Letterform Archive⁠
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Reserve your spot today: https://letterformarchive.org/shop/letterform-archive-tour-for-neon-speaks/
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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

Telephone

+14158027485

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