Cultural Context and Competency In Design
Womxn in type, compliant brand colors, and how fonts fuel culture wars
IN THE MARGINS
As styles like Afro-futurism and calligraffiti became more widely known, I started to think about aesthetics designed with cultural origins.
Fonts, for example, will always have context when they are created:
how they are intended to be used vs how they are actually used
the socio-political climate at the time a font becomes popular
the level of commercial success and the brands or industries associated with it
...etc
Arabic is admired for its calligraphic style yet has a limited number of typefaces available - which is absurd considering Arabic is estimated to be spoken by nearly half a billion people. Does the global influence of a language affect what fonts are designed for it? (...How the hell is English still seen as a power language? Asking for a friend... I am the friend...)
Did you ever think of how that “Tiki Party” font may be a cute party banner decoration for you but is a painful reminder of colonization for others? Who creates these fonts and does purchasing them perpetuate shallow stereotypes?
Design is rarely in a vacuum so it's important to look at all the factors. Hit that "reply" button and let me know if you have ever seen any aspects of your culture taken out of context for the sake of design or aesthetics.
ACCESSIBILITY
Celebrating Women in Typography
@femmetype is a platform celebrating women in various forms of the typography industry. It's a valuable space that inspires other women to pursue a career in type. They've got their eyes peeled for talent so womxn*, tag a post of your type work with the hashtag #femmetype for a potential feature. - Illustration by @alexefrancis
*The term "womxn" is intended to be inclusive of trans and non-binary women
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
Accessible Brand Colors
Crafting a brand identity focuses on form but designers, and clients, shouldn't forget function as well. Take accessibility into mind by ensuring your brand colors are ADA compliant. Doing so is as easy as ABC!
"What's ADA compliancy?"
Well for those Stateside, The Department of Justice (DOJ) published the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design in September 2010. These standards state that all electronic and information technology must be accessible to people with disabilities. While there are several levels of conformance, overall, color accessibility checks for things like high contrast between text and a background.
"Sweet, makes sense! But how do I make sure my colors are compliant?"
Glad you asked! Use All Five design studio has a great tool called "ABC: Accessible Brand Colors". Not only will it check if your current colors are compliant but you can also edit in real time until they are. Try it out at abc.useallfive.com and then let me know, did you pass?
Here are other color compliance tools! I'm always looking at shiny tech toys so share what other ones you use :)
Color Safe by Donielle Berg and Adrian Rapp
ART & DESIGN
Fonts: Culture and Context
As a Black creative, I often see how culture and design intertwine. Sometimes in problematic ways (hello, appropriation) and sometimes in more uplifting ways (hello, appreciation).
I'm enjoying digging into things like gentrification fonts, the perception of graffiti, and activist artwork so I'll explore that in the on-going series “Fonts: Culture and Context”. You can catch up on the first two parts below 📝
Part 1 showed how the font style of Blackletter, also called Old English, has been associated with many things. See how it evolved from tattooed gang members to university diplomas. - Read Part 1
Part 2 questioned the source of faux ethnic fonts and questioned if the lack of diverse typography is due to marginalized communities not having access to the industry. - Read Part 2
🎧 Listening - “Vibez” by Zayn & album Icarus Falls
👀 Watching - Castlevania (anime) on Netflix
💬 Quote - “When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep... and you're never really awake.” - Narrator ( Fight Club, Film 1999)
✔️ Random Fact - Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers can to retrace shrapnel from supernova blasts