Andrea Leksen, Designer
Type design enthusiast and legibility evangelist, Andrea Leksen’s passion is typography. She currently contracts as a type designer for Microsoft, consults as an Art Director managing Amazon’s fonts, and releases new fonts through her design firm, Leksen Design. She and her team are also available for custom font projects. Her font releases include Perrywood Script, Alasassy, Mr Gabe, Nordeco, Nordique, and Bemis. With years in design education and running a graphic design firm, Andrea Leksen offers innovative ideas to solve a variety of design and typographic issues. She is in her element mentoring designers, collaborating on teams, or solo, focusing for hours to find that perfect design solution. Due to years managing diverse clients and students, Ms Leksen brings to the table a level of communication that is integral to successful outcomes, combined with a never-ending desire to learn.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor, Western Washington University 2018–2022
Associate Professor of Design, Cornish College of the Arts 2016–2018
Instructor, Seattle Pacific University 2008–2016
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
TypeCon 2023
A Digital Revival: The Monotype Index of Typefaces
ATypI 2023
A Digital Revival: The Monotype Index of Typefaces
TypeCon 2017
Finding Creativity in the Details, Typography Education Forum
TypeCon 2016
Typography Lettering Tour, Capitol Hill
AIGA 2015
Type Design Workshop
EDUCATION
MDes (Master of Design)
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design,
University of Dundee, Scotland
BA Arts Administration (cum laude)
Whitworth University
What people say
“It is such a treat to receive a first draft of a design concept and have it be exactly what you are looking for! Andrea does a great job in listening to the client and asking the important questions that lead to a design that is right on track with what the client wants. She is efficient, creative, and responsive. All the attributes I look for in a top-notch graphic designer.”
Tina Gilson, Director, Annual Giving & Communications
Providence General Foundation
January 2013
“Thank you! I love everything! I feel like a kid in the candy factory in front of a chocolate conveyer belt! I am really super excited to keep seeing this come to life! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for making this a fantastic experience.”
Julia Marie Schmitt, Flowers by Julia Marie
August 2020
“I’m working with Andrea as a preferred design partner for marketing and communications projects. She is fantastic. Besides being an expert in design and branding, I absolutely love her creativity, solution-orientated work style, and reliability. And on top of it she is also a joy to work with as a person! I am already looking forward to work with her again—she is a rock star!”
Daniela Borchmann
March 2019
“Andrea Leksen offers a rare combination of beautiful design, thoughtful communication and superior attention to detail. Her solid track record made her one of my go-to designers as well as a repeat favorite with many of our clients. Andrea is a quick study from both a business and creative perspective, making her a highly capable Designer or Art Director for both in-house and agency teams. Can’t recommend enough!”
Maria Scheleen, The Creative Group
January 2016
Recent Publications
TYPE NETWORK — Designers on Designers
In their conversation, Nina Stössinger (Frere-Jones Type) and Andrea Leksen (Leksen Design) connect over their teaching experiences, how digging through fonts by other designers taught them even more about type design, and how custom font work offers a different perspective than retail design.
COMMUNICATION ARTS Insights Interview — On A Type Journey
How did you discover your passion for typography? I’ve been interested in typography ever since I became a graphic designer eighteen years ago, but it wasn’t until Seattle Pacific University asked me to teach typography courses, like Advanced Typography, in 2011 that I became addicted.
CreativePRO — The Heart Glyph's Digital Touch
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and love is in the air! During a pandemic, you may be even more motivated to show your love digitally. Among the tens of thousands of glyphs listed in the Unicode standard, there is one particular symbol that shows up repeatedly: the heart.
INDESIGN Magazine — Futuristic Fonts
Science fiction, by its very nature, intrigues creatives. It asks exciting questions about what the future may hold for us in technology, style, and explo ration. And combining science fiction and movies can be even more exciting.
INDESIGN Magazine — Typographic Drama
I don’t know about you, but I love a gorgeous, dramatic, over-the-top, high contrast font for large titles in magazines, on posters, or on a tattoo! There’s something about homing in on that meticulously designed letterform—each curve connecting a thin stroke to a ridiculously thick stroke—that creates drama and intensity.
Podcast — A Seattle Type
Every word we read is created from typefaces, the designs behind every line of every letter we see. There is a fascinating story behind each typeface, and some are unique to the Pacific Northwest. What stories are hidden behind the design of the typefaces we see around us in the built world every day? What do they say about where Seattle is, and where we're going as a city?
CreativePRO — Stepping Through Historical Seattle on a Typographic Pub Crawl
When I found out that the annual North American typography conference, TypeCon, was going to be in my hometown of Seattle, I decided to create a conference event that would somehow provide a unique experience to typographers from out-of-town.
KUOW — Turning Language into Beautiful, Functional Design
Artists often take inspiration from the world around them, and for Andrea Leksen, a local graphic designer and typography professor, inspiration came in the form of five letters. Engraved on a terracotta panel on the side of a building in SODO, the letters B-E-M-I-S with their high-waists and flowery serifs struck Leksen and prompted her to begin a new project.