Michelle Webster

Michelle Webster is a type designer, lettering artist, illustrator, content creator and foundry owner based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her first typeface, Barstow, a revival of the 1854 Wells & Webb woodtype Gothic Tuscan Italian was released in three styles in 2023. Webster's client list includes General Mills, Dolce & Gabanna, and Trader Joes as well as leading firms in publishing, law, and finance.

Webster is active in the Twin Cities type community, leading the 2023 effort to restart the local Type Tuesday group of type designers and type enthusiasts. She is an advocate of personal projects for skillbuilding, including The Ampersand Storm (an ongoing collection of 300+ illustrated ampersands, 2019 to present), and has participated in seven editions of 36 Days of Type.

Foundry: https://www.itsneue.com/

The Ampersand Storm: https://www.instagram.com/theampersandstorm/

Type Tuesday: https://www.typetuesday.org

Personal Pronouns

She/Her

Describe what you do for work and how your experience with it has been.

I'm a type designer at NeueCo and lettering artist at Fabuletters. I'm self employed, and my ventures into these areas has been such a fun surprise. I'm learning new things every day.

How did you get your job?

I graduated from MAGWD in December of 2019, just before the pandemic. I had leads and interviews and networking lined up for January through March 2020. I truly thought I would end up in an agency role. The pandemic changed things, but brought the opportunity to take a lot of classes, one of which was an 'Intro to Type Design' class. In 2021, I went on to complete the Condensed Program in Typeface Design at Type@Cooper (Cooper Union NYC) which was taught online only because of the pandemic. At some point I gave a Town Hall lecture on one of my type releases, and that led to an becoming adjunct faculty at MCAD teaching typography in the MAGWD program and decorative type classes in CE.

What inspires you/your work?

I love taking type from the past, and making them beautiful and useful for the present and future. Digital upcycling.

How do you network yourself and your art?

Great question. I've been working on a huge type family in every spare moment for the past two years. The release will have Roman and Condensed styles, with 8 weights total for the initial release (regular to bold in each style), in Latin and Latin Extended scripts (supporting over 100 languages), with Cyrillic soon to follow, as well as a true italic, and Black and Light weights. The type family is Ionic Slab that is beautiful in text, and has all the features one needs for publishing and editorial, as well as the sass required for branding. Think Clarendon, without the awkwardness. So, I haven't done much networking, or honestly much talking to other humans for a while. For the typeface release, I will be creating a lot of content for social media, doing press inquiries, as well as seeking out speaking engagements to talk about the making of the typeface, etc.

What was your experience living in the Twin Cities? Any hidden treasures?

I love the Twin Cities. As a former west coast resident (Bay Area), I may never get over the abundant parking here. For hidden treasures, I love the Golden Fig, a tiny gourmet grocery store in St. Paul. Amazingly curated stock, and the staff is so knowledgeable and helpful. Golden Fig is a delight in every way.

What would you be doing if you weren't in your current line of work?

I probably would have gone into data science, and/or pitched some books on obscure food and beverage related topics. My ungrad is in econ, and I worked in consulting for a while — I love data (don't get me started on pivot tables) and I'd love to have the skills to crunch datasets with Python, etc. These days I get my fill of programing with my typefaces, but who knows, I may still write some books!

Where did you earn your undergraduate degree, and what was it in?

University of San Francisco, Economics

How did you hear about MCAD?

A friend told me about MCAD and I signed up for a tour.

Why did you choose to earn an MA at MCAD?

MCAD's reputation made me interested in the program. The culture sold me.

What was your biggest takeaway from the program?

Design is a skill, and you can learn anything. I still think about things my professors said. Many of them were very impactful.

Where were you located when you completed the program?

Minneapolis, MN

What was the online education like?

I was a student of the multi-year graphic design certificate program, and 95% of my courses were in-person with the same cohort of students. I reapplied to MAGWD to convert to a MA. So I had two online courses in my program, but they were both excellent. For adult students with full lives and careers taking an online class, its challenging to build student rapport (seriously who has time or bandwidth). Still, I made two friends in my Capstone class, and I feel like I could reach out to anyone who was in my program. Lafe was my Capstone advisor and did a great job giving students opportunities to connect in class. It was collaborative and amazing. My other online class was Matthew Luken for UX, which was asynchronous (I think we had a kickoff meeting), and not as interactive — although Matthew was always immediately available for any questions or assistance.

How has the MA impacted your career/your life?

Having an MA always gives me a little bit of an edge, particularly on the occasions when I am doing graphic design work for my preferred client base, which is largely professional service firms. I noticed the difference immediately when I graduated in 2019, when interacting with stakeholders in law and finance firms.

What would you tell students considering pursuing an MA degree in Graphic and Web Design?

MAGWD is a challenging program, but its worth the investment. You become part of a design community.