MSU Letterpress Archive
Editorial Design
The MSU Letterpress Archive was driven by a goal to help others learn the joys of letterpress printing and making by hand in order to better connect with the historic and timeless craft of Letterpress. Furthermore, the MSU Letterpress studio needed to archive the historic attributes of their collection to both catalog typefaces as well as make them accessible to students. The goal to share the craft and the need to archive merged together to create a set of 4 books that house specimen pages of MSU’s typeface collection that were printed through community workshops.
Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
Of over 350 differing typefaces and families, a singular book would fail to make the cataloging of the type successful for students to quickly view the typefaces. Therefore four separate books were created to differentiate between four typography styles: Serif, Sans Serif, Script, & Decorative/Black. Then these four categories of books were assigned a color from the four process printing colors CMYK to further expand upon a system that would aid in their information. As well as a letterpress printed circular ornament to go along with each category. Caslon and Twentieth Century typefaces were used as the typefaces for the books’ system as they were the most common typefaces in the studio.
With the immense size of the type collection, it would take an individual printer an extensive amount of time to print the entirety of typefaces for the specimen books, creating a need to garnar others' help. In alignment with the goal of the problem—seeking to share letterpress—community workshops were created to help community members engage in the craft. These community workshops taught a brief history of letterpress printing and specific vocabulary and then allowed participants to plan, typeset, and print their own specimen sheets.
Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
Of over 350 differing typefaces and families, a singular book would fail to make the cataloging of the type successful for students to quickly view the typefaces. Therefore four separate books were created to differentiate between four typography styles: Serif, Sans Serif, Script, & Decorative/Black. Then these four categories of books were assigned a color from the four process printing colors CMYK to further expand upon a system that would aid in their information. As well as a letterpress printed circular ornament to go along with each category. Caslon and Twentieth Century typefaces were used as the typefaces for the books’ system as they were the most common typefaces in the studio.
With the immense size of the type collection, it would take an individual printer an extensive amount of time to print the entirety of typefaces for the specimen books, creating a need to garnar others' help. In alignment with the goal of the problem—seeking to share letterpress—community workshops were created to help community members engage in the craft. These community workshops taught a brief history of letterpress printing and specific vocabulary and then allowed participants to plan, typeset, and print their own specimen sheets.
Click to see more the introduction pages and some more spreads of the book
Of over 350 differing typefaces and families, a singular book would fail to make the cataloging of the type successful for students to quickly view the typefaces. Therefore four separate books were created to differentiate between four typography styles: Serif, Sans Serif, Script, & Decorative/Black. Then these four categories of books were assigned a color from the four process printing colors CMYK to further expand upon a system that would aid in their information. As well as a letterpress printed circular ornament to go along with each category. Caslon and Twentieth Century typefaces were used as the typefaces for the books’ system as they were the most common typefaces in the studio.
Of over 350 differing typefaces and families, a singular book would fail to make the cataloging of the type successful for students to quickly view the typefaces. Therefore four separate books were created to differentiate between four typography styles: Serif, Sans Serif, Script, & Decorative/Black. Then these four categories of books were assigned a color from the four process printing colors CMYK to further expand upon a system that would aid in their information. As well as a letterpress printed circular ornament to go along with each category. Caslon and Twentieth Century typefaces were used as the typefaces for the books’ system as they were the most common typefaces in the studio.
With the immense size of the type collection, it would take an individual printer an extensive amount of time to print the entirety of typefaces for the specimen books, creating a need to garnar others' help. In alignment with the goal of the problem—seeking to share letterpress—community workshops were created to help community members engage in the craft. These community workshops taught a brief history of letterpress printing and specific vocabulary and then allowed participants to plan, typeset, and print their own specimen sheets.
Here is an example of the civics templates CUBS provides to educators, club advisors, and students the resources they need to teach relevant themes around democracy in the classroom. The design is an extension of the brand an intends to be informative, playful, an easy to use
Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
Of over 350 differing typefaces and families, a singular book would fail to make the cataloging of the type successful for students to quickly view the typefaces. Therefore four separate books were created to differentiate between four typography styles: Serif, Sans Serif, Script, & Decorative/Black. Then these four categories of books were assigned a color from the four process printing colors CMYK to further expand upon a system that would aid in their information. As well as a letterpress printed circular ornament to go along with each category. Caslon and Twentieth Century typefaces were used as the typefaces for the books’ system as they were the most common typefaces in the studio.
With the immense size of the type collection, it would take an individual printer an extensive amount of time to print the entirety of typefaces for the specimen books, creating a need to garnar others' help. In alignment with the goal of the problem—seeking to share letterpress—community workshops were created to help community members engage in the craft. These community workshops taught a brief history of letterpress printing and specific vocabulary and then allowed participants to plan, typeset, and print their own specimen sheets.
Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
One deliverable for the campaign was establishing a social media presence and templates for future social media posts. The social media profile was determined to be more of a point of reference for potential voters seeking to learn more about Strand rather than a platform for campaigning
Of over 350 differing typefaces and families, a singular book would fail to make the cataloging of the type successful for students to quickly view the typefaces. Therefore four separate books were created to differentiate between four typography styles: Serif, Sans Serif, Script, & Decorative/Black. Then these four categories of books were assigned a color from the four process printing colors CMYK to further expand upon a system that would aid in their information. As well as a letterpress printed circular ornament to go along with each category. Caslon and Twentieth Century typefaces were used as the typefaces for the books’ system as they were the most common typefaces in the studio.
Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
Of over 350 differing typefaces and families, a singular book would fail to make the cataloging of the type successful for students to quickly view the typefaces. Therefore four separate books were created to differentiate between four typography styles: Serif, Sans Serif, Script, & Decorative/Black. Then these four categories of books were assigned a color from the four process printing colors CMYK to further expand upon a system that would aid in their information. As well as a letterpress printed circular ornament to go along with each category. Caslon and Twentieth Century typefaces were used as the typefaces for the books’ system as they were the most common typefaces in the studio.
Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
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Inspired by the historic precedent of specimen sheets traditionally used by print shops to showcase their type collection, the MSU letterpress archived intended to similarly capture the essence of typefaces through a specimen style display.
Of over 350 differing typefaces and families, a singular book would fail to make the cataloging of the type successful for students to quickly view the typefaces. Therefore four separate books were created to differentiate between four typography styles: Serif, Sans Serif, Script, & Decorative/Black. Then these four categories of books were assigned a color from the four process printing colors CMYK to further expand upon a system that would aid in their information. As well as a letterpress printed circular ornament to go along with each category. Caslon and Twentieth Century typefaces were used as the typefaces for the books’ system as they were the most common typefaces in the studio.
Printed from the original ATF 30 Point Yonkers Typeface
Digital trace of the Yonkers letterpress to create Bezier vector
Refined Yonkers to a more functional typeface, Montankers
Comparison of Montankers over Yonkers Digital Trace
Of over 350 differing typefaces and families, a singular book would fail to make the cataloging of the type successful for students to quickly view the typefaces. Therefore four separate books were created to differentiate between four typography styles: Serif, Sans Serif, Script, & Decorative/Black. Then these four categories of books were assigned a color from the four process printing colors CMYK to further expand upon a system that would aid in their information. As well as a letterpress printed circular ornament to go along with each category. Caslon and Twentieth Century typefaces were used as the typefaces for the books’ system as they were the most common typefaces in the studio.
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