"I like things that have letters on them," Jim Parkinson explains as he leads me into his studio, a sunlit space tucked into a top back corner of his Oakland home. Three walls of the room are covered – top to bottom, edge to edge – with posters, signs, notes, ads, newspaper headlines, sketches, magazine covers, certificates, and even metal letters. One small card is the diploma Parkinson's mother received for her penmanship; a photograph of legendary type designer Fred Goudy and his cat is signed "Fr... More >>>