Who Builds the Future?

Enrollment is now open for our Fall 2026 courses! This semester, we’re bringing back returning favorites like Contemporary Book Design with Kevin Barrett Kane and Emma Christine Hall. We’re also excited to welcome Flavia Zimbardi as our 2026 guest curator for this year’s virtual lecture series, Who Builds the Future?

Here’s a look at what’s coming this fall.

This fall, Kevin Barrett Kane and Emma Christine Hall return with Contemporary Book Design, a 10 week crash course that explores the book as an entire package.

Through lectures, demos, and personalized feedback, you’ll learn how professional book designers shape a project from the first idea to the final files. Whether you’re looking to add a portfolio piece, expand your design practice, or step into the world of publishing, this course gives you the space to make something new. By the end, you’ll have a complete book ready for print, including the cover, mechanical, special effects, and interior page files.

Get inspired by student work from last semester’s cohort. To learn more about the course and instructors, check out our interview with Kevin and Emma.

Enroll 🔗

We're excited to welcome Flavia Zimbardi as the curator of our Fall 2026 Virtual Lecture Series. Flavia is an independent type designer and visual artist from Rio de Janeiro whose work connects cultural heritage, activism, and typography. She is the founder of Women in Type and the publishing platform Contraforma. Her work has been recognized by organizations including the ADC and the Tipos Latinos Biennial.

The theme for our fall 2026 Type Electives Lecture Series is Who Builds the Future?

The type industry is changing fast. Between consolidation, shifts in distribution, open-source libraries, AI, and the pressures of an increasingly crowded marketplace, running a sustainable practice has become much harder. For many emerging designers, the question is no longer how to draw better letters, but how to create the conditions that allow their work to reach an audience.

This series explores a shared anxiety: Is there a future in type? Through conversations with people who have built new models, we’ll examine what it takes to move beyond making typefaces to shaping the field. What did it take? What did it cost? And what can we take away from their experiences?

Stay tuned—registration opens soon.

Kate

TypeElectives.com