TYPEFACE DESIGN
2025 2024 2023              
BOSTON UNIVERSITY

SISHU ZHONG
HERBASTEM How about Herbastem? The name combines herb, a term often used to refer to plants with stems, with stem to create a name that suggests a typeface with organic, plant like forms.



Herbastem type specimen by Sishu Zhong






Herbastem type specimen by Sishu Zhong






Herbastem type specimen by Sishu Zhong








Herbastem type specimen by Sishu Zhong













Herbastem type specimen by Sishu Zhong

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.