Letraset

Letraset is a brand of dry-transfer lettering and decorative transfer sheets used in graphic design, illustration, and related fields. The system consists of sheets printed with uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and often symbols or ornaments, which are rubbed onto paper or other surfaces to transfer the design. Once applied, the letters lie on the surface with an adhesive backing, allowing designers to compose typography without a typesetting device.

Letraset gained wide popularity from the 1960s through the 1980s as a practical solution for creating layouts before digital typography was available. It offered a broad selection of typefaces and decorative elements and could be applied with a stylus, burnisher, or similar tool to transfer the glyphs. The method enabled rapid assembly of headlines, captions, and signs, but had limitations including fixed character spacing, potential misalignment, and less flexible kerning and styling compared with digital fonts.

With the rise of desktop publishing and scalable digital fonts in the late 1980s and 1990s, the use of dry-transfer lettering declined. Production of Letraset sheets diminished as designers migrated to computers and printers. Nevertheless, Letraset remains a notable part of design history and is sometimes referenced in discussions of pre-digital typography. Some modern suppliers offer rub-on lettering or vintage Letraset-style kits, and the term is occasionally used generically to describe transfer lettering.