Category: research + writing

As part of the research for my MFA thesis on dimensional typography way back in 1997, I’d interviewed P. Scott Makela, who was one of my mentors and teachers at Cranbrook Academy of Art. I recently found the transcript of our conversation and what Scott had to say still struck me as lively and relevant.…

My article “From the Collection: The Women of Photo-Lettering” just posted to Letterform Archive’s website! When Briar Levit and I presented “Not Typecast: Two Women and Their Typography at Mid-Century,” an online Type Directors Club Salon way back in October 2021, Stephen Coles invited me to contribute what—after a bit more than a year and…

An informal and infrequent platform begun during covid: https://algalperin.medium.com

I just finished the final edit on my essay “Betti Broadwater Haft: ‘Letterforms Are Sacred to Me,’” included in the upcoming (Fall 2021) Princeton Architectural Press book Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History. It’s Haft’s hand pictured above, holding examples from her portfolio. Here’s the essay opening: I came to know…