The locus of this project is in the field of type face design, with the origins of the project based on an appreciation of the Letraset brand1 dry transfer system (instant lettering and other elements included in the system) and the way they were used and/or mis-used. The project investigates the autographic ‘craft’ nature of the use of Letraset, the fact that if used carelessly it could create accidental applications and that these accidental applications could lead to serendipitous effects. The project explains how reflection on these effects led in turn to some users of Letraset devising their own unconventional techniques for its use and it proposes that it is possible to replicate some of these effects and to use them as the inspiration for new type face concepts. It further proposes that it is possible to use Letraset elements (rules, dots and squares for example) in ways other than originally intended as the raw material of the basic structure of new type face designs. The methodology used in the project combines narrative inquiry, self inquiry and the generation of ideas through creative reflection and the use of ‘tacit knowledge’.