HMCT is an educational resource, creative studio, and research center dedicated to the study of typography, graphic design, and language. Based within the creative community of ArtCenter College of Design, it hosts exhibitions, publications, talks, workshops, and maintains an Archive that connect academic study with professional practice. Through its programs, the Center often partners with ArtCenter departments, professional organizations, and educational institutions worldwide, extending its commitment to the cultural and educational role of typography.

Alongside its public initiatives, HMCT offers opportunities for students and professionals through residencies, fellowships, scholarships, and collaborative projects, open to participants worldwide.
HMCT was founded in 2015 in memory of Leah Hoffmitz Milken, a renowned letterform designer, and longtime faculty member at ArtCenter. The Center continues her legacy through ongoing work in typographic research and education.

ARCHIVE
Located next to the classroom, the Archive contains two sets of flat files with seventy drawers, along with reference libraries organized across the Center’s shared work spaces. It provides organized storage for cataloguing original materials from our collections.

GALLERY
The HMCT Gallery, located at the building’s entrance, spans 1,370 square feet and serves as the Center’s main exhibition space. The open plan allows flexible arrangement of walls and displays depending on the project.

CLASSROOM

Our main classroom, roughly 1,300 square feet, hosts talks, workshops, and public programs throughout the year. It also serves as a teaching space for ArtCenter’s Graphic Design and Typography courses, placing students directly within the Center’s day-to-day activity.

SPOTLIGHT DISPLAYS
Two glass vitrines, measuring 19 by 8 feet and 13 by 7 feet, are positioned along the hallway near the offices. They present selected works from the Archive and are occasionally used to accompany or expand exhibitions on view in the Gallery or Storefront.

STOREFRONT
Facing the street, the 345-square-foot Storefront is an adaptable space used for smaller exhibition projects or as a temporary studio for visiting designers in residence.

Susan Malmstrom
Director/Archivist

Susan earned her BFA with a Specialization in Printmaking at California State University, Long Beach; and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from the University of California at Irvine. She has worked as an administrator and instructor for arts, cultural, and educational organizations for over 30 years, including California State University Long Beach, Arts Council for Long Beach (formerly Public Corporation for the Arts), Cerritos Community College, the Richmond Arts Council, the University of Richmond, John Tyler College, and Mocean Dance in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Susan works with other artists in the U.S. and Canada to create installations and collaboratively produced printed works.

Lavinia Lascaris
Associate Director, Design & Programming

Lavinia is a graphic designer from Greece specializing in exhibition and publication design with a focus on typography and language. Her practice is rooted in research, informed by a background in fine art and dance, and shaped by international collaborations with museums and galleries. Lavinia holds an MFA in Graphic Design from ArtCenter, where she was awarded the Typography Fellowship from HMCT. She is now Associate Director at HMCT and teaches typography in the Graphic Design department at ArtCenter. Her work has been recognized by Type Directors Club (TDC), Communication Arts, ISTD International Typographic Awards, GDUSA, and IDA Design Awards.

Ximena Amaya
Exhibition & Graphic Designer

Ximena is a graphic designer from Mexico City. Always driven by curiosity, with a focus on typography and its many uses, her practice ranges from traditional print media to exhibition design. She graduated from ArtCenter’s Undergraduate Graphic Design program and is currently serving as Exhibition and Graphic Designer at Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT). Among her participation and recognitions are the Type Directors Club (TDC) Ascenders in 2023; the TDC Beatrice Warde Scholarship in 2021, sponsored by Monotype; interning at Pentagram Design, New York for Natasha Jen; and the HMCT Hispanic Women of Typography Award in 2022.

Avi Sahni
Graphic Design Assistant

Avi is a multidisciplinary graphic designer with a focus on typography, branding, and editorial design. Raised in Dehradun, India, he is inspired by the vibrant culture and community around him. He is currently in ArtCenter’s Undergrad Graphic Design program. When he is not designing, he likes to play soccer and rock climb.

Hailey Caress
Archive Assistant

Originally from Houston, Hailey is currently pursuing her Master’s in Graphic Design, with a focus on branding, packaging, and typography. She strives to combine her background in fine art and communication with a contemporary design perspective to create brands that deeply resonate with audiences. When she is not designing, she enjoys spending time outdoors, traveling, and connecting with friends.

Jay Lopez
Archive Assistant

Jay is a a transdisciplinary designer currently studying graphic design at ArtCenter. He is passionate about the cultural influence of visual brands and examining cultural identity through typography. He also translates his design sensibilities into other media as well, primarily ceramics. His start-up, “ARTH CERAMICS” explores pre-colonial Mexican pottery design and practices.

Vinicius Marques
Exhibition & Archive Assistant

Vinicius is a Brazilian graphic design student at ArtCenter whose work explores culture, history, and resistance through research-driven storytelling. Their projects, including Bicho Solto and the Exiled Publication, examine how design can preserve memory and reframe narratives of identity and struggle. Drawing from their Brazilian heritage, Vini blends expressive typography, collage, and found imagery to create emotionally resonant, socially engaged design.

Brice Pierce
Graphic Design Assistant

Brice is a designer specializing in typography, brand systems, and packaging design. Raised in New York, NY, his approach is rooted in curiosity and lived experience, learning through observing and hands-on experimentation. He is currently in ArtCenter’s undergraduate graphic design program. Beyond design, he finds inspiration in documentary storytelling, the restaurant world, and time spent traveling.

Gloria Kondrup
Executive Director (Emerita)

Gloria Kondrup’s career spans design, education, and letterpress printing. A longtime ArtCenter professor, she taught graphic design and letterpress for more than two decades and directed Archetype Press, the college’s letterpress studio. As a design consultant, she developed branding and packaging systems for clients such as Aon, Avon, and Goodwill Industries. She received the AIGA Greening of Design Award for her commitment to social and environmental responsibility, and ArtCenter’s Outstanding Service Award in recognition of her contributions to the college. An ArtCenter alumna and close friend of Leah Hoffmitz Milken, Gloria founded HMCT to continue Leah’s legacy.

Simon Johnston
Creative Director (Emeritus)

Educated at Bath Academy of Art and the Kunstgewerbeschule Basel, where he studied with Armin Hofmann and Wolfgang Weingart, Simon Johnston began his career in London in the 1980s as co-founder of the design studio 8vo and co-editor of the journal Octavo. Since relocating to California, his studio Simon Johnston Design has focused on publications for museums and galleries, with clients including the Whitney Museum, Gagosian Gallery, the Getty Museum, Steidl Verlag, Blum & Poe, and Yale University Press. A former professor in ArtCenter’s Graphic Design Department, he continues to work across book design, education, and his own art and photography under his imprint Verb Editions.

Leah Hoffmitz Milken was a graphic designer and educator whose dedicated scholarship on letterforms defined both her teaching and her practice. She specialized in creating logotypes, identities, and custom typefaces for major corporate brands including FedEx, Nokia, United Airlines, and Disney. Alongside her professional work, she built a significant archive of typographic research, focusing on the morphological development of letterforms.
Leah joined ArtCenter in 1992 and taught there for more than twenty years, shaping generations of designers. Her influence endures in the many alumni who credit her guidance as foundational to their careers.
Her contributions to design and education were recognized through numerous awards, including the 2013 ArtCenter Distinguished Achievement Award. In 2008 she was named an Honorary Alumna for her devotion to students and active role in supporting scholarships through the Legacy Circle. Leah was an honors graduate of the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and completed graduate studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel. Her work received recognition from the AIGA, Graphis, the Type Directors Club, ATypI, and the Library of Congress.

ISTD International Typographic Awards 2024
Environmental > Quasi: Experimental Writing Systems
Books > Mujeres Hispanas y Tipografía

Type Directors Club Awards 2024
Communication Design > Quasi: Experimental Writing Systems

Publishing Professionals Network Book Show 2023
Best in Show > Mujeres Hispanas y Tipografía

International Design Awards 2022
Silver in Print (Signs, Exhibits & POP Displays) > Baby Ink Twice

Communication Arts Typography Annual 2020
Typography / Environmental > MIKE / SIERRA / TANGO

Type Directors Club Awards 2020
Communication Design > Plan B: Spirit of the Bauhaus

GDUSA American Graphic Design Awards 2019
Plan B: Spirit of the Bauhaus

2025

• Johanna Drucker Substack
  “Primarium: A Case for Cursive, Exhibition Review”

• San Gabriel Valley Tribune
  “Things to do in the San Gabriel Valley area Aug. 1–9”

• Pasadena Now
  “The Case for Cursive: Pasadena Exhibition Maps Global Handwriting Traditions”
  
  

2024

• Hyperallergic
  “10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles in January 2024”
  
  

2023

• LAist / Airtalk
  “Can Anyone Create Their Own Language And Script? A New Pasadena Exhibition Showcases Invented Language Systems”

• San Gabriel Valley Tribune
  “Quasi at ArtCenter Creates New Worlds in New Words”

• Print Magazine / The Daily Heller
  “The Art of Invented Scripts, Meaning Optional”

• Print Magazine / The Daily Heller
  ”Is the Plural of Platypus Platypi or Platypuses”

• Print Magazine / The Daily Heller
  “Hispanic Women and Their Typographic Legacy”

2020

• Eye Magazine
  “Harmonic Voices”