Bill Moran

I am a 3rd’generation letterpress printer, graphic designer and professor of typography and design history at the University of Minnesota. I started making Letterbugs in 1999 as a port of Saint Paul’s annual Art Crawl. It was my cheesy attempt to bring to life art that crawls. I like letters and I like bugs. A hybrid seemed like a good idea and 25 years later I’m still making them. My Letterbugs are printed on 140-year-old presses with type designed in the 19th-centrury. They have a sturdy, “I’m going to be here long after you” attitude, just like insects. 

I have exhibited my work nationally and internationally since 2001. My Letterbugs are in the permanent collections of the Gutenberg Museum, Tipoteca Italiana, The Newberry Library, Hatch Show print in Nashville and Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, where I served as Artistic Director from 2009 to 2021. The Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography in Los Angeles hosts my working archive.