Events

A Visit with John Gall and Paperback Records

April 25, 2026

Sometimes it’s nice to just drink drinks, bite bites, and hob nobs with friends, strangers, and countrypersons. To that end, we invited John Gall and his Paperback Records to do all of the above with us and you. Learn more »

Letterforms of a Continent: Latin American Posters in the Gráfica Latina Archive

April 11, 2026

Tatiana Gómez and José R. Menéndez delivered our forty-eighth Standing-Room Only Lecture. Their topic and title could not have been better: “Letterforms of a Continent: Latin American Posters in the Gráfica Latina Archive.” Learn more »

First (Sun)Day of Spring: A Radar et Picpus Partagé

March 22, 2026

Sometimes it feels like we take and we take and we take. But on the first (Sun)Day of Spring, we’re gonna give and give and give. Learn more »

A Short Talk on the 8½ × 11 Piece of Paper

February 7, 2026

Kyle Winston and Jonathan Toews delivered our forty-seventh Standing-Room Only Lecture. Their topic and title could not have been better: “A Short Talk on the 8½ × 11 Piece of Paper.” Learn more »

The Shape of Fortune

January 8, 2026

Lynne Yun delivered our forty-sixth Standing-Room Only Lecture. Her topic and title could not have been better: “The Shape of Fortune.” Learn more »

Meet the Owner: Holiday Edition

December 7, 2025

Have you ever wondered who’s responsible for everything that goes on at Katherine Small Gallery? That person is The Owner. Come in and say hello as The Owner comes in to answer questions and show of rarities from The Back. Learn more »

El Lissitzky for the Hand

December 5, 2025

María Matilde Morales delivered our forty-fifth Standing-Room Only Lecture. Her topic and title could not have been better: “El Lissitzky for the Hand.” Learn more »

More If You Can, Less If You Can’t: The Coalitional Color Theory of Come!Unity Press

November 14, 2025

Nat Pyper delivered our forty-fourth Standing-Room Only Lecture. Their topic and title could not have been better: “More If You Can, Less If You Can’t: The Coalitional Color Theory of Come!Unity Press.” Learn more »

Kelli Anderson’s Alphabet in Motion: The Boston Book Launch + a Talk

November 11, 2025

Kelli Anderson delivered our forty-third Standing-Room Only Lecture. Her topic and title could not have been better: “Alphabet in Motion: The Boston Book Launch + a Talk.” Learn more »

A Printer with My Hands: The Life and Work of Carl P. Rollins (The Boston Book Launch)

November 6, 2025

We introduced Katherine M. Ruffin’s A Printer with My Hands: The Life and Work of Carl P. Rollins to Greater Boston and the greater world as both Katherine and a pile of her books were present for a book launch party without further formalities. Learn more »

Everywhere I Go: Thirty Years of Sketchbooks

October 28, 2025

Cyrus Highsmith delivered our forty-second Standing-Room Only Lecture. His topic and title could not have been better: “Everywhere I Go: Thirty Years of Sketchbooks.” Learn more »

Experimental Type Design: A Checkered History

October 7, 2025

Matthew Carter delivered our forty-first Standing-Room Only Lecture. His topic and title could not have been better: “Experimental Type Design: A Checkered History.” Learn more »

Yard Sale 2025

October 5, 2025

Sometimes it’s time to let things go. That time was Sunday, October 5, when we put out for cheap all sorts of good and kinda-good stuff for a yard sale. Learn more »

Papyrus: The Authoritative Origin Story

September 25, 2025

Chris Costello delivered our fortieth Standing-Room Only Lecture. His topic and title could not have been better: “Papyrus: The Authoritative Origin Story.” Learn more »

Three Score Keepers: The Mid-Point Opening

September 7, 2025

We celebrated artist Crystalle Lacouture and Caira Art Editions and marked the mid-point of their Three Score Keepers exhibit at Katherine Wall Gallery. Learn more »

Clara Istlerová: A Life Among Letters

Postponed!

Anežka Minaříková was supposed to deliver our fortieth Standing-Room Only Lecture. Her topic and title could not have been better: “Clara Istlerová: A Life Among Letters.” We’re working on rescheduling for 2026. Learn more »

Typographics Book Fair 2025

June 27–29, 2025

We’ll leave on a midnight train to NYC so we can exhibit at the Typographics book fair at Cooper Union on June 27 and 28 and 29. Packed your bags and meet us there. Learn more »

Top Tier

May 21, 2025

Ryan Diaz emcee’d our thirty-ninth Standing-Room Only Lecture delivered by Tina Rosado, Yiner Xu, and Ghazaleh Farrokhi. Their topic and title could not have been better: “Top Tier.” Learn more »

Of Hacksaws and Celluloid: The Beguiling Stencil Work of W.A. Dwiggins

May 2, 2025

Bruce Kennett delivered our thirty-eighth Standing-Room Only Lecture. His topic and title could not have been better: “Of Hacksaws and Celluloid: The Beguiling Stencil Work of W.A. Dwiggins.” Learn more »

Dramatizing the Curve: Graphic Design Meets Data Visualization

April 17, 2025

Hannah Pivo delivered our thirty-seventh Standing-Room Only Lecture. Her topic and title could not have been better: “Dramatizing the Curve: Graphic Design Meets Data Visualization.” Learn more »

A Field Guide to Prefab Letterforms

March 31, 2025

Stephen Coles delivered our thirty-sixth Standing-Room Only Lecture. His topic and title could not have been better: “A Field Guide to Prefab Letterforms.” Learn more »

Greetings from Uli Huber: The Guided Tour

March 13, 2025

Our thirty-fifth Standing-Room Only Lecture was a guided tour (via slides) of our exhibition Greetings from Uli Huber. Learn more »

Last Words: The Boston Book Launch (and a Design Brief Wake)

January 28, 2025

We introduced Last Words: Gravestones of Type Designers to Greater Boston and the greater world as author Gavin Morrison was present for a book launch party without further formalities and a wake to observe this final issue of our Design Brief. Learn more »

Meet the Kenji

December 21, 2024

Come meet Kenji Nakayama of Need Signs? Will Paint! as he’ll be here with a fresh batch of beautiful practice sheets and handsome tote bags. Learn more »