Type comes alive this summer as Buffalo plays host to TypeCon2008: Punkt. From the irreverent to the serious, the eclectic to the traditional, and the modern to the historical, SOTA’s tenth conference is a letterfest of talks, workshops, tours, exhibitions, and special events created for type lovers at every level. More than 70 legends and innovators will take part, including Chuck Bigelow, Matthew Carter, James Craig, Dard Hunter III, Akira Kobayashi, Pete McCracken, Jan Middendorp, David Pankow, Elizabeth Resnick, Stefan Sagmeister, Erik Spiekermann, Ilene Strizver, Jakob Trollbäck, House Industries, and NLXL. 

TypeCon2008 explores type for the screen, printing history, Dutch design, type in motion, Arabic calligraphy, the American Arts and Crafts movement, experimental typography, and much more. Special events include the third annual Type and Design Education Forum, an exhibition of international type and design, and a closing night gathering at the home of the Roycrofters. 

Tara McPherson is a painter, poster artist and freelance illustrator based out of New York City. Creating art about people and their odd ways, her characters seem to exude an idealized innocence with a glimpse of hard earned wisdom in their eyes. Recalling many issues from childhood and good old life experience, she creates images that are thought provoking and seductive. People and their relationships are a central theme throughout her work. Tara's array of art includes painted comics and covers for DC Vertigo, advertising and editorial illustrations for companies such as Pepsi and Spin Magazine, and numerous gig posters for rock bands such as Beck, Modest Mouse, Mastodon, and Death Cab For Cutie. She exhibits her paintings and prints in fine art galleries all over the world. Currently she is painting for an upcoming gallery exhibition at Jonathan Levine Gallery, working on a painted graphic novel for DC Vertigo Comics, designing toys for Kidrobot based on her characters, and teaches a Concept Illustration class at Parsons in NYC. McPherson's art has been included in books such as Lonely Heart: The Art of Tara McPherson (Dark Horse Press), Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (DC), The Art of Modern Rock (Chronicle), Illusive 2, Illustration Now! (Taschen), SWAG and SWAG 2 (Abrams), and more. She has lectured at the School of Visual Arts, AIGA NYC, AIGA Austin, The University of Arizona, MADE in Edmonton and Foyles London. Her art has also been featured in the film Juno, Veronica Mars, Point Pleasant, and Guitar Hero. Tara was born in San Francisco in 1976 and raised in Los Angeles. She received her BFA from Art Center in Pasadena, CA in August 2001 with honors in Illustration and a minor in Fine Art. She interned at Rough Draft Studios, working on Matt Groening's "Futurama" during college. She has been featured and/or interviewed by Juxtapoz, Esquire, Bust, Magnet, Spin, TV 3, Current TV, CBC Radio, Super7, Paste, HOW, Step, Communication Arts, Society of Illustrators, Metal Hammer, International Tattoo Art, AIGA, Seattle Times, LA Weekly, Gothamist, DC Comics, Punk Planet, Savage Tattoo and many more. Some of her clients include DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Dark Horse Comics, Kidrobot, Strangeco, Spin, Pepsi, Fanta, Goldenvoice, Harper Collins, Bloomsbury, Revolver, Knitting Factory, Playstation 2, House of Blues, Punk Planet, Dogfish Head Brewery, Nike and Wyden+Kennedy among others.

Since it was co-founded in Amsterdam in 1997 by Erwin Brinkers, Marieke Stolk and Danny van Dungen, EXPERIMENTAL JETSET has emerged as one of Europe’s most inventive graphics teams through projects in the cultural, music, fashion and publishing sectors. Citing influences such as “punk, the Situationist International, Godard, Kubrick, the Dutch Provo movement, Frankfurt School, De Stijl, the Beatles and conspiracy theories”, Experimental Jetset is a team of three graphic designers working together in Amsterdam. After meeting as students at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Erwin Brinkers, Marieke Stolk and Danny van den Dungen co-founded Experimental Jetset in 1997. They have since worked for clients such as Droog, the PTT and Stedelijk Museum in the Netherlands as well as Centre Georges Pompidou, the Purple Institute and the fashion store Colette in Paris. Believing that there should be an inner logic to graphic design, Experimental Jetset develops a coherent system for each project and then imbues it with an idiosyncratic combination of references to modernist design, typified by the use of the well-known typeface Helvetica in the We Are The World catalogue for the Dutch Pavilion at the 2003 Venice Art Biennale, and pop culture illustrated by the deadpan slogans on the Been There Done That series of wristbands.

Established in 2001 by Michael C. Place, Build has since forged an international reputation as a forward-thinking Graphic Design studio with an exceptional eye for detail and a sense of style that transcends popular trends of graphic design.

Leia Bell is one of the new group of artists exploding onto the rock poster scene. Her impressive body of work has upwards of 150 posters, despite only three years in the business. The majority of these prints are for the Kilby Court - a venue that she and her husband own and operate.