Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography

The Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography provides the tools for community members to celebrate and investigate the evolution of typography’s role in all forms of communication.

As the Digital Age continues to increase our interaction with screens, typography, which has always been a core element of graphic design, has become increasingly vital to our visual culture. Consequently, ArtCenter developed a plan to become a central and influential force in this burgeoning field by providing a dedicated space to advance the research, teaching and understanding of letterform design and typography.

To that end, in 2015, with generous support from the Lowell Milken Family Foundation, the College founded the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) in memory of Professor Leah Hoffmitz Milken, a well-known typographer, letterform designer and esteemed ArtCenter faculty member.

Upon its founding in 2015, HMCT assumed management of ArtCenter’s Archetype Press. Established at the College in 1989, Archetype Press is the largest letterpress facility in California and among the largest of any design school in the country, giving students the opportunity to set type and print by hand.

HMCT was designed to become home and a catalyst for the enhanced study of typography and letterform design. HMCT serves as an educational forum, design laboratory, research center and archive, as well as a meeting place for learning, discussion and the exchange of ideas and skills. HMCT holds workshops and special classes, symposia, lectures and residency programs dedicated to all aspects of the typographic field.

A key component of HMCT programming is a series of rotating exhibitions. HMCT houses three exhibition spaces at South Campus, including the South Campus Gallery, the HMCT Storefront and the Archival Showcases. These exhibition spaces display notable work in typography, letterform design and visual communication from the HMCT archives, ArtCenter students, faculty and visiting designers. 


Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography
South Campus
950 S. Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91105
Get Directions

Contact
Prof. Gloria Kondrup
Executive Director, HMCT
gloria.kondrup@artcenter.edu626 396-4343


Lowell Milken Family Foundation Logo

Words and images permeate every aspect of our daily lives and play an increasingly important role in our information-hungry society.

Simon JohnstonArtCenter Professor of Graphic Design and HMCT Creative Director

HMCT Mission Statement



The mission of the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography is to set the standard of excellence in typography education; elevate and advance the teaching and understanding of both letterform design and typographic practice; provide valuable support and service to the educational and professional communities, reinforcing the meaning and value of typography; and to honor the past and anticipate the future of typography in a society of rapidly changing visual communication needs.

The Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography: Two Years, Two Paths, One Destiny

Octavo, International Journal for Typography

In Conversation with HMCT Creative Director Simon Johnston, Co-Founder of 8vo and Octavo