Type Shop remains active in graphic design program

On the second floor of the School of Fine Arts is a room lined by seemingly-endless shallow drawers, each containing a separate piece of ink-stained history. The drawers form a square around large machines that could swallow one, or maybe 30, whole, modern-day printers.

These are the Type Shop proofing presses.

The Type Shop is a staple of the graphic design program and has served as a teaching facility for students since the early 1960s. But now, as modern-day technology progresses, the Type Shop could make its final descent into the computer-designed pages of history.

On campus, professors and students are determined to keep it alive and relevant.
Paul Brown, associate professor of studio art, came to IU about 10 years ago and said he remains a firm believer that IU’s Type Shop is “above and beyond history.” He said it gives users a special look into graphic design.

“There is a 3-D quality to letterpress,” Brown said. “We contend that you get a sensitivity gained by doing things like this — an intuition.”

Brown said the terminology of the shop is still relevant to graphic design. Words such as “typeface,” common in software programs, originated within shops.

“Working here, you get a grounding in history and development of type,” Brown said.
Thomas Walker, professor of graphic design, said he sees the Type Shop as a “head on a swivel” that allows one to look back to the past and forward to the future while standing in the present “friendly confines of the shop.”

“Graphic design is coming from a different place, and we want students to know where that’s from,” Walker said. 

Junior Alexa Scott, president of the IU Graphic Design Club, said she uses the Type Shop regularly and has come to appreciate this relatively unknown space among modern graphic design.

The club focuses on raising awareness and appreciation for graphic design not just among art majors, but among everyone on campus.

Valentine’s Day cards are among the club’s next projects, and members will sell their creations later this week. As always, the cards will be made within the shop.

One of the shop’s main attractions are the available fonts, some of which are more than 100 years old. Each font size is stored in shallow drawers and is organized by case height. Fonts are open for anyone in the graphic design program to take a peek.

The proofing presses, described by Brown affectionately as “war horses,” are valued at anywhere between $15,000 and $20,000.

Scott said the availability of these resources is what is most shocking.

“I came in a sophomore, and I didn’t know anything,” Scott said. “But I was immediately shown a love for design. The presses are so rare around the country. A lot of graphic design students don’t even know about them. Here, we’re in and out of the shop all the time.”

Scott said her favorite project is an art print poster she made that featured funny rap song lyrics.

Posters like these and other broadsides around the room showcase past student work made within the shop. Brown said these are all examples of the success of the SoFA Type Shop.

“With a computer, it’s not real,” Brown said as he fingered a font-block in his hand. “It’s light. But here, it’s an object. It has weight, and you can touch it. It’s the physical aspect of printing that’s enjoyable.”