stewf asked: When did Type & Media get the abbreviation "T]M" and why?

This is probably one of the main questions we get as members of this program. As I understand it, the answer lies in our professors’ generation.

A little background: most people who know about t]m is that it began as a program started by Gerrit Noordzij. In the 1960s he began to teach at KABK, and in the 1970s he developed a “letter design” program. Most (but absolutely not all) of our teachers now were a part of his program in the ’70s and ’80s. 

In 1980, Frank Blokland, Jelle Bosma and Albert-Jan Pool started a “letter club” to help pool resources, discuss ideas, and get feedback on their design work. You see, in the 1980s (I am far too young to know any of this first-hand, mind you) it was difficult for independent letter designers to get their designs accepted by large foundries; just designing typefaces was costly because the equipment itself was costly, and any hard-earned experience gained from dealing with foundries was invaluable. The odds were on their side if they stuck together, and it worked.  

In 1986 the group consisted of the 3 founders plus Petr van Blokland (no relation to Frank), Henk van Leyden, Peter Matthias Noordzij (GN’s son), and Marie-Cécile Noordzij-Pulles (Peter’s wife) when they adopted the name “Letters]”. More people joined in the coming years, including Just van Rossum, Luc(as) de Groot, Bart de Haas, and Peter Verheul.

So the answer to the question is we get our bracket in honor of Letters], the organization that helped out many of our teachers.  

This is just a brief overview—for those wanting to learn more, they should turn to none other than Dutch Type by the indomitable Jan Middendorp. The history of our program and our teachers essentially starts on page 175, Letters] is specifically on pp. 180–1.

A list of current lecturers for t]m is here.