TYPEFACE DESIGN
2025 2024 2023              
BOSTON UNIVERSITY

CECILIA (XIN) YUE
BODONI LUDLOW

Bodoni Ludlow is a revival of Giambattista Bodoni’s neoclassical serif, adapted for hot metal composition on the Ludlow Typograph system—a hot metal typesetting system designed to produce large display type quickly and economically. The revival, with its sharply bracketed serifs, high contrast between thick and thin strokes, and crisp vertical stress, embodies the elegance and restraint of traditional Bodoni while bearing subtle mechanical quirks from the Ludlow Typograph’s early twentieth-century commercial catalog. Designed for both headline and text use, Bodoni Ludlow bridges high-style typography with industrial-era utility.




Bodoni Ludlow type specimen by Cecilia (Xin) Yue






Bodoni Oldstyle specimen





Bazaar magazine cover, July 1958

Vogue magazine cover, 1950





Bodoni Ludlow type specimen by Cecilia (Xin) Yue


Bodoni Ludlow type specimen by Cecilia (Xin) Yue



Bodoni Ludlow type specimen book by Cecilia (Xin) Yue







Bodoni Ludlow type specimen by Cecilia (Xin) Yue




Bodoni Ludlow type specimen by Cecilia (Xin) Yue
Bodoni Ludlow type specimen by Cecilia (Xin) Yue




Bodoni Ludlow type specimen by Cecilia (Xin) Yue
TYPEFACE DESIGN
2025
2024
2023

INSTRUCTOR
Christopher Sleboda

TEACHING ASSISTANTS
Amanda Mundy (2025), Ash Wei (2024)

DESIGN 
Erica Pritchett · Built with Cargo
ABOUT
This site documents student work from an advanced typeface design course taught by Christopher Sleboda and open to students in the MFA Graphic Design and BFA Graphic Design programs at Boston University, as well as students in the School of Visual Arts—including those in the new Visual Narrative MFA. The course provides a rigorous introduction to the conceptual and technical processes involved in creating original digital typefaces. Students explore the foundations of letterform construction—including structure, proportion, counterform, spacing, and rhythm—while developing their own typefaces.

Through research, sketching, and the use of digital tools like RoboFont, students engage with typographic history and contemporary practice to design functional and expressive typefaces. Each student produces a working font and a printed type specimen. This site showcases the results of that work, reflecting diverse design approaches and a deep engagement with the craft of type design.