WE ARE VOCAL

June 7, 2019 8:39 AM

Vocal is a type foundry that makes typefaces that highlight the history of underrepresented people “from the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Argentina to the Civil Rights Movement in America”. For example, the Martin typeface is based on signs carried by marchers in the streets of Memphis after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. [via]

From the About page:

"Nearly 84% of all designers in America are white. Until recently, the majority of all designers in America were Men. So if you’re African, Asian, or Latin American, or a woman, and you see an advertisement that you feel does not accurately represent your race, ethnicity, and/or gender, this is why.

Diversity has always been a neglected issue in the design industry until (in many cases) profits and optics become of concern. However, diversity in design has been looked at as an employment problem, and not a design problem."

posted by lazaruslong (7 comments total)

This is so cool, thanks for posting it here! I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do with Untitled.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:00 AM on June 7, 2019

I really like those, and they are really affordable for how good they are.
posted by Fish Sauce at 9:03 AM on June 7, 2019

Protest signs are one of the last refuges of public hand-lettering. Obviously people have gotten worse at it since the last century--the protest signs and banners they use as reference are gorgeously lettered. The ones I've seen in the last 30 years are serviceable, but rarely beautiful.
posted by rikschell at 9:38 AM on June 7, 2019

Nice!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:35 AM on June 7, 2019

I love this. I'm disappointed that Eva isn't available yet because it would be perfect for a project (which we have to finalise by... uh.... Monday). Does anyone know of any similar thing elsewhere? (A font that somehow represents women/gender minorities and ideally intersectionality or at least a non-Anglo/American perspective?)
posted by lollusc at 8:16 PM on June 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Oh wow, thanks for this! I do hope this doesn't get co-opted by clueless folk who turn this into the equivalent of "use Papyrus for anything vaguely Egyptian".

I'd love to see some based on queer liberation protest history, especially since this is Pride month.
posted by divabat at 12:55 AM on June 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you're thinking “Hey, these are all the same!” as I was, try checking Allow pages to choose their own fonts … in your browser preferences
posted by scruss at 3:20 AM on June 8, 2019 [2 favorites]