AIGA Wisconsin welcomes James T. Edmondson, San Fransisco-Bay Area type designer, lettering artists, and educator, for an evening of intimate conversation.

AIGA Members - Free
Non Members - $10
Students - $5

You likely know James as Wisdom Script or perhaps Lavanderia, maybe even Duke. Now come meet the face behind the typefaces. 

Edmondson will highlight his professional typographic journey: from school at California College of the Arts and the TypeMedia program at the Royal Academy of Art in the Netherlands, to his current life as a type designer, lettering artist, and educator. The struggles, insights and advice from his personal journey in a world of letterforms are sure to inform and inspire.

Come relax with refreshments and make sure to stop by the French Paper Company table for your complementary designer-geek giveaways. Plus don't miss your chance to take home a limited edition James Edmondson screen printed poster (available for $15). James will be available after the presentation for signing.

Want to learn hand-lettering and font creation with James himself? Register here for our Type Speaks workshop hosted by The University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee on Friday, January 27th. Two sessions available.

James Edmondson is an independent type designer in San Francisco, getting his early career start with the Lost Type Co-op, a pay-what-you-can font foundry for personal use fonts, and working with clients such as Facebook, Society of Publication Designers and Mine™. Recent projects include OHNO T.C., They Went with Hobo and Robofont Extensions.

With the principles of a calligrapher and mindset of a letter artist (rather than a graphic designer), Edmondson told Snap magazine, “I’m not really someone who can come up with new ideas on my own, so the alphabet is the biggest inspiration for me—the convention of how letters are drawn.” Influenced by humanist-style faces considered by many to be the great-grandparents of today’s types, Edmondson’s original fonts include Wisdom Script—you may recognize it from barackobama.com—Duke and Lavanderia. Of them, he says, “I take pride in my curves like a plus-size model.”

One of Print magazine’s 20 “New Visual Artists” in 2013, Edmondson graduated from California College of the Arts and the TypeMedia program at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, Netherlands. Quick to give credit where it’s due, recognize his heroes along the way, and down-play his talents, Edmondson connects type and lettering with other interests: songwriting, skateboarding—although he claims he’s terrible at it—and Jimmy Buffett. Edmondson’s a self-proclaimed Parrothead.

Thanks to our event sponsors: Sakura, French Paper, Hanson Dodge Creative, Orchard Street Press, and The University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee.

Want to become a member of AIGA? Join today for as little as $50.