Juan Villanueva is a typeface designer, letterer, and educator in New York City.

He grew up in Lima, Peru and Clifton, New Jersey. His heart is in both places and his work reflects both languages and cultures. 

Juan is a Senior Type Designer at the Monotype Studio. He joined Monotype in 2016 where he contributes to library designs including Helvetica Now, Futura Now, and Walbaum and creates custom projects for global brands such as Google, Microsoft, Tencent, M&Ms, and Entertainment One.

Juan is the co-founder of Type Electives a new online school shaping the future of type by offering courses that go beyond traditional type design education. Previously, Juan was the lead instructor of Type West Online where his curriculum brings together theory and practice, and emphasizes community and collaboration. He’s the founder of Type Crit Crew, an initiative to make type design education more accessible and inclusive to students anywhere in the world. He previously taught at Type@Cooper, the City College of New York, and the Cooper Union Summer Art Intensive Program.

Juan shares his story and research at design conferences around the world including the American Printing History Association, LADFEST, BICeBé, BIPOC Design History, Where Are The Black Designers?, TypeCon, How Design Live, Letrástica, and DiaTipo São Paulo. In 2021, he created Typefaces as Cultural Objects, an archive that highlights typefaces made by Latin American designers that honor and preserve Latin American culture.

He holds a BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration & Animation from Montclair State University. He graduated from the Type@Cooper Extended program in typeface design and completed the Reading Type Design intensive program. He’s a member of AIGA NY and serves on the board of the Society of Scribes.

When he’s not drawing letters, he’s probably making more coffee. You can follow his lettering explorations on Instagram and the awesome work from his students at displaytypedesign.com and typerevivals.com 🔥