TYPEFACE DESIGN
2025 2024 2023
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
VALERIA ALVARADO GUTIÉRREZ
+51 LIMA
INSTAGRAM
WEBSITE
This typeface was designed by the different typefaces seen on the streets of Peru advertising local businesses like shoe repairs, green grocers, hardware, and convenience stores. +51 LIMA has a bold feel to it’s regular size, lower x-height than usual, tight tracking, and longer ascenders and descenders to call out the hand-made qualities of local store signage seen in the busy streets of Lima.
+51 LIMA type specimen by Valeria Alvarado Gutiérrez
+51 LIMA type specimen by Valeria Alvarado Gutiérrez
+51 LIMA type specimen book spreads by Valeria Alvarado Gutiérrez
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.