TYPEFACE DESIGN
2025 2024 2023
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
KATE POE
DASPIRA
INSTAGRAM
DOWNLOAD OTFDaSpira is a typeface revival inspired by the earliest roman types cut by German brothers Giovanni and Vindelino de Spira for books printed in Venice in the 1470s. This digital reinterpretation preserves the warmth and gravity of those incunabula letterforms while refining their proportions and spacing for contemporary use. DaSpira features sturdy serifs, generous counters, and softly modulated strokes that echo the calligraphic origins of early movable type. Balanced yet characterful, it captures the elegance of humanist ideals—offering a typographic voice well-suited to literary, editorial, and book settings where historical resonance and readability are both essential.
DaSpira type specimen by Kate Poe
De Officiis Cini Foundation Collection in Venice, Italy, photos by Kate Poe, 2022
Virgil, Opera, Incunabula at Princeton, The Scheide Library, Rare Book Division
De Officiis Cini Foundation Collection in Venice, Italy, photos by Kate Poe, 2022
DaSpira type specimen by Kate Poe
DaSpira type specimen by Kate Poe
DaSpira type specimen by Kate Poe
DaSpira type specimen by Kate Poe
DaSpira type specimen by Kate Poe
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.