Insight
Beliefs and Values Expressed Through Fonts
Have you heard the term “value-driven consumption,” which has been increasingly used across many areas of everyday life? Value-driven consumption refers to a way of purchasing goods and services based on one’s own value judgments, and it appears in various forms. Examples include “meaning out”*, where people express their political or social beliefs through consumption, and “green consumers,” who choose environmentally friendly products. In Korea, what is often referred to as “ethical consumption” also represents a form of value-driven consumption.
The reason value-driven consumption has emerged as a major consumer trend is that both consumers and producers are no longer considering economic value alone, but are instead proposing and choosing directions that hold at least some degree of value. It can also be seen as a reflection on the many problems caused by the long-standing pursuit of economic value alone.
*Meaning Out: a term combining “meaning,” which signifies belief, and “coming out,” meaning to come out of the closet.
Among the many fonts we encounter in our daily lives, there are also fonts created to embody such social values. Because fonts are reproduced into new creative works through creators, they spread more quickly and widely, become embedded more deeply in everyday life, and can serve as a highly effective and powerful means of conveying social messages.
Ecofont: Perhaps the Smallest Step Toward Caring for the Environment
Although its share has declined with the development of various media, print still remains significant. Every day, countless sheets of paper are filled with densely printed text. The Netherlands-based “Ecofont” was the first to attempt a font design that saves ink by perforating letters with tiny holes. Ink is highly toxic, and once disposed of, cartridges can take an extremely long time—up to 450 years—to fully decompose. By introducing holes into letterforms, “Ecofont (Link)” is said to reduce ink consumption by approximately 50% (based on Buyerslab research results, Link)*. In 2009, starting with 「Spranq eco sans」 developed by “Ecofont” and “Spranq (Link),” the initiative expanded through collaborations with various overseas foundries, selling perforated versions of existing fonts. Today, Ecofont offers solution software that automatically perforates any font during the printing process.
*Buyers Laboratory Inc.: A company that provides information on the imaging industry by testing devices such as printers, multifunction machines, fax machines, scanners, and digital imaging software, and publishing the results.
Similar efforts have also appeared in Korea. In 2009, designer Lee Yongje demonstrated the potential of eco fonts for Hangul through 「Akkineun Geulja (Link)」*. In 2012, “Naver” collaborated with “Ecofont” to perforate the Nanum typefaces, developing 「Nanum Ecofont (Link)」**.
*A font created in an eco-font style by adding a checkered void to the skeleton of the previously released Arita Dotum. When printed at body-text sizes of 8–12 pt, the empty spaces are not visible, and it allows approximately 15% more output compared to Arita Dotum. It was not released as a font and therefore cannot be used in practice.
**A font produced by Naver in 2012 through a technical partnership with Ecofont, adding small holes to the previously released Nanum Myeongjo and Nanum Gothic to save ink. Compared to the original Nanum Myeongjo and Nanum Gothic, it saves approximately 35% of ink (Nanum Myeongjo Eco Regular 26–27%, Nanum Gothic Eco Regular 34–35%). The recommended size is 7–11 pt.
「Spranq Eco Sans」 and 「Nanum Myeongjo Eco」
However, designers cannot pursue meaning alone. While embedding their beliefs into fonts, designers also strive to create type that can be used across many contexts and remains visually appealing. In recent years, approaches have emerged that go beyond simply perforating letters, instead using the structural elements of letterforms to place greater emphasis on aesthetics.
「Ryman Eco」 (Link), released in 2015 by the UK stationery retailer Ryman, is an environmentally conscious font designed with sustainability in mind. It was created through a collaboration between Monotype’s type director Dan Rhatigan and the London-based advertising agency Grey London. The font was designed to balance environmental considerations with refined visual form.
In a similar vein, there is also an eco-font that leverages the characteristics of Hangul: “Mulpu-re” (Link) by designer Bae Seongwoo. Although it has not yet been released, “Mulpu-re” proposes ways to save ink by effectively utilizing the inherent features of Hangul.
「Ryman Eco」
「Mulpu-re」
Type to act (Type to take action.)
While the fonts mentioned earlier enable individuals to practice environmental protection in a direct, personal way, there are also fonts created to raise awareness of environmental issues among a much broader audience. Helsingin Sanomat (Link), the largest newspaper in Northern Europe, developed the climate-crisis font 「Climate Crisis Font」(Link) to alert people to the climate emergency caused by global warming. Using variable font* technology—which has been widely adopted in recent years—the font visually represents shrinking sea ice by reflecting its changing forms directly in the letter shapes. With time (years) set as an axis**, the letterforms gradually melt and appear to sink into water as the timeline progresses from 1979 to 2050. The letter area in 2050 is reduced by approximately 30% compared to the extent of sea ice in 1979, based on projections from the IPCC (Link)***.
*Variable Font: Literally meaning a “font that can change,” a variable font is a technology that allows multiple font attributes—such as weight, width, and slant—to be expressed continuously rather than as fixed values.
**Axis: A single attribute or dimension within a variable font.
***IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change): An organization established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess the risks of climate change related to human activity.
To effectively communicate awareness of the climate crisis in Korea as well, the type design studio Notype (Link)* created and released a free Hangul version of 「Climate Crisis Font」 titled 「Climate Crisis–Hangul」. Because a functional Hangul font generally requires at least 2,350 to 2,780 characters, its production is considerably more demanding than that of a Latin font. Even so, the distinctive characteristics of 「Climate Crisis Font」 were successfully translated into Hangul, and since its free release last year, it has been used across a wide range of fields. As their slogan “Type to act” suggests, for those who wish to take part in efforts to address the climate crisis, why not join this global movement by typing with this font?
*Notype: A type design studio founded in 2018 by Noh Eunyu, producing typefaces based on in-depth research and experimentation with Hangul and typography.
「Climate Crisis Font」 and 「Climate Crisis–Hangul」, which visualize shrinking sea ice as time (years) progresses
Alongside environmental issues, human rights remain a consistently important social concern. Despite long-standing efforts and sacrifices to address the many forms of human rights issues—such as racial discrimination, labor rights, and LGBTQ+ rights—problems continue to arise across society, and related movements persist. Because many social and political movements convey their messages through short, slogan-like statements, fonts play a highly significant visual role alongside various design outputs such as banners, flags, and placards.
Fonts That Become Someone’s Voice
Have you ever encountered a font that feels as if it has a bold or, conversely, a gentle voice? This is because, when drawing a font, designers often imagine “what kind of tone this story is being spoken in.” A representative font that has become someone’s voice in this way is 「Gilbert」(Link). It is a font created through the collaboration of Newfest(Link), NYC Pride(Link), and Fontself(Link) in tribute to LGBTQ+ activist Gilbert Baker, who passed away in 2017. Gilbert Baker is the person who created the rainbow flag, which became a symbol of the movement for sexual minorities. Inspired by this, 「Gilbert」 is composed of combinations of strokes in different colors, using rainbow colors that symbolize diverse identities.
In Korea, in 2021, 474 co-creators who sponsored this project, rainbowfoundation*, lead developer Sup (Bae Seong-u), and Jeram (Kang Yeong-hun) collaborated to produce the Korean version of 「Gilbert」, titled 「Gilbeotche」(Link). “Gilbeot” refers both to the name of activist Gilbert Baker and to the meaning of “a companion walking together on the path (gil) toward a society that respects diversity.” 「Gilbeotche」 is currently distributed for free, and more detailed information can be found in the 「Gilbeotche」 Haeryebon(Link).
*rainbowfoundation: A foundation established in 2014 to promote the human rights of sexual minorities, engaged in a wide range of activities.
「Gilbert」 & 「Gilbeotche」
Do you remember the slogan “Black Lives Matter (the lives of Black people matter)”*, which became a global issue a few years ago? In Korea as well, many members of the public and celebrities tagged this slogan on social media, turning it into a major topic of discussion. Through news coverage and various media outlets, murals, graffiti, and placards in many different forms bearing the words “Black Lives Matter” appeared widely.
To take part in this movement, art director and UX designer Don Lee created a font inspired by the murals carved into the road leading toward the White House that appeared one morning. He did so in order to call for the protection of these murals from damage by those opposing the movement. Subsequently, murals of various forms that appeared in places such as New York and Oakland were also turned into fonts, which are being distributed for free via a dedicated page(Link) so that people participating in the movement can use them widely.
*Black Lives Matter (Black Lives Matter, BLM): A social movement for Black civil rights formed in 2013. It began in response to incidents stemming from police brutality against African Americans and is now used as a slogan across a wide range of issues related to Black civil rights.
Inspired by a mural carved into the streets of Washington, the 「Black Lives Matter」 font
There is also a font created to raise awareness of “gerrymandering,” the practice in which electoral districts are reshaped into bizarre forms according to political interests. RepresentUs, an organization working to improve the electoral process, collaborated with the advertising agency Leo Burnett to create a font called 「Ugly Gerry」(Link), making the issue of gerrymandering more explicit and open to criticism. The alphabet and symbols were drawn by directly modeling the actual shapes of U.S. electoral districts. Through the site where the font was released, people were able to share it and send letters to Congress. Within a few days, hundreds of articles were published and hundreds of millions of views were generated, and thousands of letters were sent to Congress. Afterward, North Carolina voted to put an end to gerrymandering, and other states were reported to be considering similar legislation.
「Ugly Gerry」, which starkly exposes the problem of gerrymandering
In addition to the fonts mentioned above that are widely known, there are also notable examples in which designers have embedded their beliefs about social issues into fonts. These include 「Bayard」(Link), a font created by graphic designer Tré Seals* of Vocal Type Co., named after Bayard Rustin, a key activist of the March on Washington**; 「Revolt」(Link)*, produced to convey anger and psychological instability surrounding Black civil rights issues; and 「Voice of the wall」(Link)**, which spoke out about freedom under threat on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
*In addition to Bayard, Tré Seals has produced a total of eight fonts inspired by social movements such as civil rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s suffrage, and the right to form labor unions.
**March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: A march held in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963, advocating for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. It is widely known for Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I have a dream” speech calling for the end of racial discrimination.
***A font created by British illustrator and instructor Sam Rowe. Anyone can download it for free and make donations to Black Lives Matter UK and National Bail Out.
****A font produced through a collaboration between the nonprofit hip-hop organization The Cultural Heirs and the advertising agency Heimat Berlin, based on graffiti written on the Berlin Wall.
Various examples of embedding personal beliefs about social issues into fonts
Fonts that sometimes become someone’s eyes
Beyond the cases discussed earlier that express personal beliefs about social and political issues, there are also examples that focus more closely on individuals who make up society and aim to directly address their challenges. These are fonts that function with a stronger emphasis on communication (Comunication), which is the fundamental purpose of a font, for people who have difficulty reading and seeing text.
A representative example is 「Dyslexie font」, created by Dutch designer Christian Boer. “Dyslexie” means dyslexia. It is said that around 15% of the English-speaking population has dyslexia. If a class has about 30 students, as many as four or five may have dyslexia, making it relatively common. To address this, Christian Boer designed letters in forms that may appear somewhat unusual to those without dyslexia. For people with dyslexia, letters can seem to lose their centers, appear flipped vertically or horizontally, or look as if they are swirling and rotating, so the font was designed in ways entirely different from conventional font design rules. Uppercase and lowercase letters are clearly distinguished, shapes are subtly varied, angles are added, and spacing is widened, resulting in nonstandard forms. On the website operated directly by Christian Boer(Link), users can purchase the font and document creation solutions. It is reported to be highly helpful in the learning process of students with dyslexia who are beginning to learn to read.
「Dyslexie font」, which breaks away from conventional typography rules
As a domestic example of a font that goes beyond belief to provide practical help through functionality, there is 「Jeomja」(Link) by Rarefont (Kim Ju-yeon). In compliance with the Korean Braille regulations published by the National Institute of the Korean Language, the Braille font 「Rare Jeomja」 was created, and 「Rare Jeomja Hangul 01」 was developed so that non-visually impaired readers can also read it. When the two fonts are overlaid, both visually impaired and non-visually impaired users can understand the meaning. In addition to Hangul, the font set includes glyphs for Latin letters, numerals, punctuation marks, and commonly used abbreviations. Rather than serving only people with disabilities, it functions to facilitate communication between people with and without disabilities.
An overlaid use of 「Rare Jeomja」 and 「Rare Jeomja Hangul 01」
Embedding values and beliefs into fonts
I like the idea that a person’s thoughts are shaped by the language they use. Depending on the words, voice, and tone with which one expresses their thoughts, the same content can be conveyed differently to others—and this, in turn, becomes one’s own thinking. Writing works in much the same way: depending on which font we use to present a text, its meaning can be reinforced or weakened. This is why so many designers (and many non-designers as well) continue to deliberate, even at this very moment, over which font to choose.
Most fonts are chosen for how they look. From a user’s perspective, if it is beautiful, that is often enough. However, some fonts are chosen for the values and beliefs they embody. Much like choosing products from companies that make a sincere effort to address environmental issues, a font can be selected not only for aesthetics but also for what it stands for. That a small digital file—often no more than a few megabytes—can save large amounts of ink, raise awareness about global warming, support the identities and rights of others, sometimes even influence national laws, or become someone’s eyes, is precisely because fonts are such a powerful medium for carrying values and convictions. I hope there will be even more fonts that embody the values and beliefs each of us aspires to, enabling better understanding and communication through them. That, I believe, may be the form of beauty we ultimately seek.
References
‘Climate Crisis Hangul,’ a font capturing the reality of disappearing glaciers (Link), News Penguin
Are fonts disappearing too? The free font ‘Climate Crisis’ raising awareness of the climate crisis (Link), GS Caltex Media Hub
How are eco-fonts being used in Korea? (Link), Tistory
Eco-fonts, environmentally conscious letters (Link), Tistory
Letters that “save ink” (Link), Prof. Lee Yong-je, Kaywon University of Art & Design
Do you know the colorful typography font ‘Gilbert’? (Link), Naver Blog
Gilbert font & Gilbeotche, revealing minority identities through fonts (Link), Monthly Design
Type and Protest (Link), Communication Arts
I Have a Dream (Link), Wikipedia
Insight
Beliefs and Values Expressed Through Fonts
Have you heard the term “value-driven consumption,” which has been increasingly used across many areas of everyday life? Value-driven consumption refers to a way of purchasing goods and services based on one’s own value judgments, and it appears in various forms. Examples include “meaning out”*, where people express their political or social beliefs through consumption, and “green consumers,” who choose environmentally friendly products. In Korea, what is often referred to as “ethical consumption” also represents a form of value-driven consumption.
The reason value-driven consumption has emerged as a major consumer trend is that both consumers and producers are no longer considering economic value alone, but are instead proposing and choosing directions that hold at least some degree of value. It can also be seen as a reflection on the many problems caused by the long-standing pursuit of economic value alone.
*Meaning Out: a term combining “meaning,” which signifies belief, and “coming out,” meaning to come out of the closet.
Among the many fonts we encounter in our daily lives, there are also fonts created to embody such social values. Because fonts are reproduced into new creative works through creators, they spread more quickly and widely, become embedded more deeply in everyday life, and can serve as a highly effective and powerful means of conveying social messages.
Ecofont: Perhaps the Smallest Step Toward Caring for the Environment
Although its share has declined with the development of various media, print still remains significant. Every day, countless sheets of paper are filled with densely printed text. The Netherlands-based “Ecofont” was the first to attempt a font design that saves ink by perforating letters with tiny holes. Ink is highly toxic, and once disposed of, cartridges can take an extremely long time—up to 450 years—to fully decompose. By introducing holes into letterforms, “Ecofont (Link)” is said to reduce ink consumption by approximately 50% (based on Buyerslab research results, Link)*. In 2009, starting with 「Spranq eco sans」 developed by “Ecofont” and “Spranq (Link),” the initiative expanded through collaborations with various overseas foundries, selling perforated versions of existing fonts. Today, Ecofont offers solution software that automatically perforates any font during the printing process.
*Buyers Laboratory Inc.: A company that provides information on the imaging industry by testing devices such as printers, multifunction machines, fax machines, scanners, and digital imaging software, and publishing the results.
Similar efforts have also appeared in Korea. In 2009, designer Lee Yongje demonstrated the potential of eco fonts for Hangul through 「Akkineun Geulja (Link)」*. In 2012, “Naver” collaborated with “Ecofont” to perforate the Nanum typefaces, developing 「Nanum Ecofont (Link)」**.
*A font created in an eco-font style by adding a checkered void to the skeleton of the previously released Arita Dotum. When printed at body-text sizes of 8–12 pt, the empty spaces are not visible, and it allows approximately 15% more output compared to Arita Dotum. It was not released as a font and therefore cannot be used in practice.
**A font produced by Naver in 2012 through a technical partnership with Ecofont, adding small holes to the previously released Nanum Myeongjo and Nanum Gothic to save ink. Compared to the original Nanum Myeongjo and Nanum Gothic, it saves approximately 35% of ink (Nanum Myeongjo Eco Regular 26–27%, Nanum Gothic Eco Regular 34–35%). The recommended size is 7–11 pt.
「Spranq Eco Sans」 and 「Nanum Myeongjo Eco」
However, designers cannot pursue meaning alone. While embedding their beliefs into fonts, designers also strive to create type that can be used across many contexts and remains visually appealing. In recent years, approaches have emerged that go beyond simply perforating letters, instead using the structural elements of letterforms to place greater emphasis on aesthetics.
「Ryman Eco」 (Link), released in 2015 by the UK stationery retailer Ryman, is an environmentally conscious font designed with sustainability in mind. It was created through a collaboration between Monotype’s type director Dan Rhatigan and the London-based advertising agency Grey London. The font was designed to balance environmental considerations with refined visual form.
In a similar vein, there is also an eco-font that leverages the characteristics of Hangul: “Mulpu-re” (Link) by designer Bae Seongwoo. Although it has not yet been released, “Mulpu-re” proposes ways to save ink by effectively utilizing the inherent features of Hangul.
「Ryman Eco」
「Mulpu-re」
Type to act (Type to take action.)
While the fonts mentioned earlier enable individuals to practice environmental protection in a direct, personal way, there are also fonts created to raise awareness of environmental issues among a much broader audience. Helsingin Sanomat (Link), the largest newspaper in Northern Europe, developed the climate-crisis font 「Climate Crisis Font」(Link) to alert people to the climate emergency caused by global warming. Using variable font* technology—which has been widely adopted in recent years—the font visually represents shrinking sea ice by reflecting its changing forms directly in the letter shapes. With time (years) set as an axis**, the letterforms gradually melt and appear to sink into water as the timeline progresses from 1979 to 2050. The letter area in 2050 is reduced by approximately 30% compared to the extent of sea ice in 1979, based on projections from the IPCC (Link)***.
*Variable Font: Literally meaning a “font that can change,” a variable font is a technology that allows multiple font attributes—such as weight, width, and slant—to be expressed continuously rather than as fixed values.
**Axis: A single attribute or dimension within a variable font.
***IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change): An organization established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess the risks of climate change related to human activity.
To effectively communicate awareness of the climate crisis in Korea as well, the type design studio Notype (Link)* created and released a free Hangul version of 「Climate Crisis Font」 titled 「Climate Crisis–Hangul」. Because a functional Hangul font generally requires at least 2,350 to 2,780 characters, its production is considerably more demanding than that of a Latin font. Even so, the distinctive characteristics of 「Climate Crisis Font」 were successfully translated into Hangul, and since its free release last year, it has been used across a wide range of fields. As their slogan “Type to act” suggests, for those who wish to take part in efforts to address the climate crisis, why not join this global movement by typing with this font?
*Notype: A type design studio founded in 2018 by Noh Eunyu, producing typefaces based on in-depth research and experimentation with Hangul and typography.
Alongside environmental issues, human rights remain a consistently important social concern. Despite long-standing efforts and sacrifices to address the many forms of human rights issues—such as racial discrimination, labor rights, and LGBTQ+ rights—problems continue to arise across society, and related movements persist. Because many social and political movements convey their messages through short, slogan-like statements, fonts play a highly significant visual role alongside various design outputs such as banners, flags, and placards.
Fonts That Become Someone’s Voice
Have you ever encountered a font that feels as if it has a bold or, conversely, a gentle voice? This is because, when drawing a font, designers often imagine “what kind of tone this story is being spoken in.” A representative font that has become someone’s voice in this way is 「Gilbert」(Link). It is a font created through the collaboration of Newfest(Link), NYC Pride(Link), and Fontself(Link) in tribute to LGBTQ+ activist Gilbert Baker, who passed away in 2017. Gilbert Baker is the person who created the rainbow flag, which became a symbol of the movement for sexual minorities. Inspired by this, 「Gilbert」 is composed of combinations of strokes in different colors, using rainbow colors that symbolize diverse identities.
In Korea, in 2021, 474 co-creators who sponsored this project, rainbowfoundation*, lead developer Sup (Bae Seong-u), and Jeram (Kang Yeong-hun) collaborated to produce the Korean version of 「Gilbert」, titled 「Gilbeotche」(Link). “Gilbeot” refers both to the name of activist Gilbert Baker and to the meaning of “a companion walking together on the path (gil) toward a society that respects diversity.” 「Gilbeotche」 is currently distributed for free, and more detailed information can be found in the 「Gilbeotche」 Haeryebon(Link).
*rainbowfoundation: A foundation established in 2014 to promote the human rights of sexual minorities, engaged in a wide range of activities.
Do you remember the slogan “Black Lives Matter (the lives of Black people matter)”*, which became a global issue a few years ago? In Korea as well, many members of the public and celebrities tagged this slogan on social media, turning it into a major topic of discussion. Through news coverage and various media outlets, murals, graffiti, and placards in many different forms bearing the words “Black Lives Matter” appeared widely.
To take part in this movement, art director and UX designer Don Lee created a font inspired by the murals carved into the road leading toward the White House that appeared one morning. He did so in order to call for the protection of these murals from damage by those opposing the movement. Subsequently, murals of various forms that appeared in places such as New York and Oakland were also turned into fonts, which are being distributed for free via a dedicated page(Link) so that people participating in the movement can use them widely.
*Black Lives Matter (Black Lives Matter, BLM): A social movement for Black civil rights formed in 2013. It began in response to incidents stemming from police brutality against African Americans and is now used as a slogan across a wide range of issues related to Black civil rights.
There is also a font created to raise awareness of “gerrymandering,” the practice in which electoral districts are reshaped into bizarre forms according to political interests. RepresentUs, an organization working to improve the electoral process, collaborated with the advertising agency Leo Burnett to create a font called 「Ugly Gerry」(Link), making the issue of gerrymandering more explicit and open to criticism. The alphabet and symbols were drawn by directly modeling the actual shapes of U.S. electoral districts. Through the site where the font was released, people were able to share it and send letters to Congress. Within a few days, hundreds of articles were published and hundreds of millions of views were generated, and thousands of letters were sent to Congress. Afterward, North Carolina voted to put an end to gerrymandering, and other states were reported to be considering similar legislation.
「Ugly Gerry」, which starkly exposes the problem of gerrymandering
In addition to the fonts mentioned above that are widely known, there are also notable examples in which designers have embedded their beliefs about social issues into fonts. These include 「Bayard」(Link), a font created by graphic designer Tré Seals* of Vocal Type Co., named after Bayard Rustin, a key activist of the March on Washington**; 「Revolt」(Link)*, produced to convey anger and psychological instability surrounding Black civil rights issues; and 「Voice of the wall」(Link)**, which spoke out about freedom under threat on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
*In addition to Bayard, Tré Seals has produced a total of eight fonts inspired by social movements such as civil rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s suffrage, and the right to form labor unions.
**March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: A march held in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963, advocating for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. It is widely known for Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I have a dream” speech calling for the end of racial discrimination.
***A font created by British illustrator and instructor Sam Rowe. Anyone can download it for free and make donations to Black Lives Matter UK and National Bail Out.
****A font produced through a collaboration between the nonprofit hip-hop organization The Cultural Heirs and the advertising agency Heimat Berlin, based on graffiti written on the Berlin Wall.
Various examples of embedding personal beliefs about social issues into fonts
Fonts that sometimes become someone’s eyes
Beyond the cases discussed earlier that express personal beliefs about social and political issues, there are also examples that focus more closely on individuals who make up society and aim to directly address their challenges. These are fonts that function with a stronger emphasis on communication (Comunication), which is the fundamental purpose of a font, for people who have difficulty reading and seeing text.
A representative example is 「Dyslexie font」, created by Dutch designer Christian Boer. “Dyslexie” means dyslexia. It is said that around 15% of the English-speaking population has dyslexia. If a class has about 30 students, as many as four or five may have dyslexia, making it relatively common. To address this, Christian Boer designed letters in forms that may appear somewhat unusual to those without dyslexia. For people with dyslexia, letters can seem to lose their centers, appear flipped vertically or horizontally, or look as if they are swirling and rotating, so the font was designed in ways entirely different from conventional font design rules. Uppercase and lowercase letters are clearly distinguished, shapes are subtly varied, angles are added, and spacing is widened, resulting in nonstandard forms. On the website operated directly by Christian Boer(Link), users can purchase the font and document creation solutions. It is reported to be highly helpful in the learning process of students with dyslexia who are beginning to learn to read.
「Dyslexie font」, which breaks away from conventional typography rules
As a domestic example of a font that goes beyond belief to provide practical help through functionality, there is 「Jeomja」(Link) by Rarefont (Kim Ju-yeon). In compliance with the Korean Braille regulations published by the National Institute of the Korean Language, the Braille font 「Rare Jeomja」 was created, and 「Rare Jeomja Hangul 01」 was developed so that non-visually impaired readers can also read it. When the two fonts are overlaid, both visually impaired and non-visually impaired users can understand the meaning. In addition to Hangul, the font set includes glyphs for Latin letters, numerals, punctuation marks, and commonly used abbreviations. Rather than serving only people with disabilities, it functions to facilitate communication between people with and without disabilities.
An overlaid use of 「Rare Jeomja」 and 「Rare Jeomja Hangul 01」
Embedding values and beliefs into fonts
I like the idea that a person’s thoughts are shaped by the language they use. Depending on the words, voice, and tone with which one expresses their thoughts, the same content can be conveyed differently to others—and this, in turn, becomes one’s own thinking. Writing works in much the same way: depending on which font we use to present a text, its meaning can be reinforced or weakened. This is why so many designers (and many non-designers as well) continue to deliberate, even at this very moment, over which font to choose.
Most fonts are chosen for how they look. From a user’s perspective, if it is beautiful, that is often enough. However, some fonts are chosen for the values and beliefs they embody. Much like choosing products from companies that make a sincere effort to address environmental issues, a font can be selected not only for aesthetics but also for what it stands for. That a small digital file—often no more than a few megabytes—can save large amounts of ink, raise awareness about global warming, support the identities and rights of others, sometimes even influence national laws, or become someone’s eyes, is precisely because fonts are such a powerful medium for carrying values and convictions. I hope there will be even more fonts that embody the values and beliefs each of us aspires to, enabling better understanding and communication through them. That, I believe, may be the form of beauty we ultimately seek.
References
‘Climate Crisis Hangul,’ a font capturing the reality of disappearing glaciers (Link), News Penguin
Are fonts disappearing too? The free font ‘Climate Crisis’ raising awareness of the climate crisis (Link), GS Caltex Media Hub
How are eco-fonts being used in Korea? (Link), Tistory
Eco-fonts, environmentally conscious letters (Link), Tistory
Letters that “save ink” (Link), Prof. Lee Yong-je, Kaywon University of Art & Design
Do you know the colorful typography font ‘Gilbert’? (Link), Naver Blog
Gilbert font & Gilbeotche, revealing minority identities through fonts (Link), Monthly Design
Type and Protest (Link), Communication Arts
I Have a Dream (Link), Wikipedia