Fonts Expressing Beliefs and Values

 

Have you heard the term “value-based consumption,” which has become increasingly prevalent in various aspects of our daily lives? Value-based consumption refers to purchasing goods and services based on one’s value judgments. This trend manifests in various forms, such as “meaning out”* and “greensumers” (those who buy eco-friendly products). In Korea, these consumption practices are often referred to as “ethical consumption,” representing typical examples of value-based consumption.

The reason value-based consumption has become a major consumer trend recently is that both consumers and producers are increasingly considering factors beyond mere economic value. They are striving to propose and choose directions that hold some form of value. This trend can be seen as a reflection on the numerous issues caused by the relentless pursuit of economic value over the years.
*Meaning Out: A term combining “Meaning” (reflecting beliefs) and “Coming Out” (emerging from the closet).

Among the myriad fonts we encounter in our daily lives, some are designed to embody various social values. Fonts, being reproduced as creations through creators, can spread quickly and widely, deeply embedding themselves in our everyday lives. They can be an incredibly effective and powerful means of conveying social messages.

 

 

Considering the Environment: The Smallest Practice, Ecofont

Despite the growth of various digital media, the importance of print media remains significant. Every day, numerous sheets of paper are filled with densely printed characters. The Dutch company ‘Ecofont’ was the first to design a font that includes tiny holes in the letters to save ink. Ink is highly toxic, and cartridges take an incredibly long time (up to 450 years) to decompose completely. According to research by Buyers Lab, the hole-punched design of 'Ecofont' can reduce ink usage by about 50% (Buyers Lab research results link). In 2009, Ecofont and Spranq collaborated to create “Spranq eco sans,” a font with holes, and sold it in partnership with various international foundries. They currently offer software solutions that automatically add holes to any font during the printing process.

In Korea, there have been similar initiatives. In 2009, designer Yongje Lee showcased the potential of eco-friendly fonts in Hangul with 「Ink-Saving Typeface」(Link)*. In 2012, Naver collaborated with Ecofont to develop 「Nanum Eco」(Link)**, a version of their Nanum typeface with tiny holes to save ink.
*An ecofont version of the existing 「Arita Dotum」, with checkered empty spaces within the characters. When printed at body text sizes (8 to 12pt), the empty spaces are not visible, allowing for about 15% more print output compared to 「Arita Dotum」. Although it was not released as a font, it demonstrated the potential of ecofonts in Hangul.
**A font developed by Naver in 2012 through a technical partnership with Ecofont, featuring small holes in the existing 「Nanum Myeongjo」 and 「Nanum Gothic」 fonts to save ink. Copared to the original 「Nanum Myeongjo」 and 「Nanum Gothic」, it can save about 35% ink (26-27% for Nanum Myeongjo Eco Regular, and 34-35% for Nanum Gothic Eco Regular). 

 「Spranq eco sans」 and 「Nanum Myeongjo Eco」

 

However, designers cannot solely pursue meaning. They strive to create fonts that not only embody their beliefs but are also widely usable and visually appealing to consumers. Recently, there have been more aesthetically considerate attempts that utilize the elements of letters, rather than just puncturing holes.  

In 2015, the British stationery retailer ‘Ryman’(Link)  released 「Ryman Eco」(Link), an eco-friendly font designed with sustainability in mind. It was created by Monotype’s type director Dan Rhatigan and the London advertising agency Grey London. This font balances environmental considerations with aesthetic form. Similarly, in Hangul, there is an ecofont called 「Mulpure」 by designer Bae Sung-woo(Link). Although not yet released, 「Mulpure」  leverages the unique characteristics of Hangul to propose ways to save ink. This font, like 「Ryman Eco」, seeks to combine functionality with visual appeal while promoting eco-friendly practices. 

 

 

Type to act.

If the fonts mentioned earlier represent ways to directly practice environmental protection on a personal level, there are also fonts designed to raise awareness about environmental issues among a broader audience. The largest newspaper in Northern Europe, Helsingin Sanomat(Link), developed the 「Climate Crisis Font」(Link) to inform people about the climate crisis caused by global warming. Utilizing the variable font* technology widely used in recent years, this font visually represents the shrinking ice caps due to climate change, showing the decreasing area of sea ice from 1979 to 2050. The letters gradually melt and submerge in water over time, with the 2050 years as the axis** based on IPCC*** predictions, showing a 30% reduction from the 1979 sea ice extent.
*Variable Font: A font that can change, allowing various characteristics such as thickness, width, and slant to be displayed continuously rather than as fixed values.
**Axis: A specific characteristic that a varioable font can have.
***IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization(WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) to assess the risks of climate change casued by human activity.

 

To effectively raise awareness about the climate crisis domestically, the type design studio NohType*(Link) created the Korean version of the 「Climate Crisis Font」, called “기후위기-한글” (Climate Crisis-Hangul), and distributed it for free. Generally, creating a functional Korean font requires producing at least 2,350 to 2,780 characters, making it more challenging than creating Latin fonts. Despite this, NohType successfully integrated the characteristics of the 「Climate Crisis Font」 into Hangul, and since its free distribution last year, it has been used in various fields. Following their slogan, “Type to act,” those who wish to join the fight against the climate crisis can do so by typing with this font and contributing to global action.
*NohType: A type design studio founded by No Eunyoo in 2018, creating fonts based on in-depth research and experimentation on Hangul and typography.

「Climate Crisis Font」 and its Korean version, 「기후위기-한글」, express the diminishing ice caps over time.

 

Human rights, alongside environmental issues, remain a persistent and critical societal concern. Despite efforts and sacrifices made to address numerous forms of human rights issues—such as racial discrimination, labor rights, and LGBTQ+ rights—problems continue to arise in various sectors of society, necessitating ongoing movements. In many social and political movements, slogans and messages are conveyed through short phrases, making banners, flags, and placards, along with fonts, visually significant tools.

 

 

Fonts Becoming Someone’s Voice

Have you ever seen fonts that seem to carry either a harsh or gentle voice? This is often because designers imagine the tone of voice that might deliver the story when drawing the font. A notable example of a font that became a voice for someone is 「Gilbert」.(Link) Created in honor of LGBTQ+ activist Gilbert Baker, who passed away in 2017, 「Gilbert」 was developed through the collaboration of Newfest(Link), NYC Pride(Link), and Fontself.(Link) Gilbert Baker was the creator of the rainbow flag, a symbol for the LGBTQ+ movement. Inspired by this, 「Gilbert」 features strokes in different colors, symbolizing various identities with rainbow hues.

In 2021, the Korean version of this project, 「Gilbeot」(Link), was created through the collaboration of 474 co-creators, the Beyond the Rainbow Foundation*, lead developer Forest(Bae Sung-woo), and Jeram(Kang Young-hoon). 「Gilbeot」 not only honors the name of activist Gilbert Baker but also signifies “a companion(beot) on the journey(gil) towards a society that respects diversity.” 「Gilbeot」 is currently available for free, with more detailed explanations found in the “Gilbeotche Hangeul Haerye”(Link).
*Beyond the Rainbow Foundation: Established in 2014, this foundation works to promote LGBTQ+ rights through various activities.

「Gilbert」 and 「Gilbeot」

 

Do you remember the slogan “Black Lives Matter” that became a global issue a few years ago? In Korea, many ordinary people and celebrities tagged this slogan on their social media, making it a notable issue. Various forms of murals, graffiti, and placards with “Black Lives Matter” were shown through news and other media. To support this movement, art director and UX designer Don Lee created a font inspired by the murals that appeared on the road leading to the White House one morning. This was done to prevent the defacement of murals by opponents of the movement. Subsequently, various murals from New York, Oakland, and other places were also turned into fonts, which were then freely distributed on a dedicated page(Link) for those who wanted to participate in the movement.
*Black Lives Matter(BLM): A social movement formed in 2013 adbocating for the rights of Black people, starting with protests against police brutality towards African Americans and now encompassing a wide range of Black right issues.

The 「Black Lives Matter」 font, modeled after the mural in Washington, exemplifies how typography can play a significant role in social and political movements, helping to amplify important messages and support advocacy efforts.

 

There is also a font created to raise awareness about the phenomenon of “gerrymandering,” where electoral districts are oddly shaped for political gain. The organization RepresentUs, which advocates for election process improvements, collaborated with the advertising agency Leo Burnett to create the font 「Ugly Gerry」.(Link) This font was designed to explicitly highlight and criticize the issue of gerrymandering by shaping the letters and symbols to resemble actual U.S. electoral district boundaries. The font was made available on a dedicated website, allowing people to share it and send letters to Congress. Within a few days, hundreds of articles were published, the site received millions of views, and thousands of letters were sent to Congress. Subsequently, North Carolina voted to end gerrymandering, and other states began considering similar legislation.

The 「Ugly Gerry」 font starkly illustrates the issue of gerrymandering, making it a powerful tool for advocacy and raising public awareness.

 

In addition to the well-known fonts mentioned earlier, there are several other notable examples where designers have embedded their social beliefs into their fonts. For instance, graphic designer Tré Seals* of Vocal Type Co. created the 「Bayard」(Link), named after Bayard Rustin, a key activist in the March on Washington**. Other examples include 「Revolt」***(Link), which captures anger and psychological unrest regarding Black civil rights issues, and 「Voice of the wall」****(Link), developed to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, highlighting the threats to freedom.

*Tré Seals has created eight fonts inspired by social movements, including civil rights, LGBTQ rights, women's suffrage, and labor rights.
**March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Held on August 28, 1963, in Washington D.C., this march advocated for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. It is best known for Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech, calling for an end to racial discrimination.
***"Revolt" is a font created by British illustrator and educator Sam Rowe, available for free download, with donations encouraged to Black Lives Matter UK and National Bail Out.
****"Voice of the Wall" was created in collaboration with The Cultural Heirs, a non-profit hip-hop association, and the advertising agency Heimat Berlin. This font is based on the graffiti from the Berlin Wall.

These examples showcase how designers have incorporated their social convictions into their fonts, using typography as a medium to address and raise awareness about various social issues.

 

 

Fonts That Become Someone’s Eyes

In addition to the examples of fonts reflecting social and political beliefs, there are also fonts designed to address specific issues faced by individuals in society. These fonts focus on the core purpose of communication, helping those who struggle with reading and seeing text.

A prime example is the 「Dyslexie font」 created by Dutch designer Christian Boer. “Dyslexie” means dyslexia in English. About 15% of the population in English-speaking countries has dyslexia. In a typical classroom of 30 students, about 4 to 5 students may have dyslexia. To address this, Christian Boer designed letters in ways that might look unusual to us but are helpful to people with dyslexia. Dyslexic individuals often perceive letters as disappearing in the middle, flipping vertically or horizontally, or swirling around. Therefore, Boer designed the font contrary to conventional type design rules. He made the sizes of uppercase and lowercase letters distinctly different, altered shapes slightly, added angles, and spaced the letters more widely. These unconventional designs help dyslexic individuals distinguish letters more easily. The font and document creation solutions are available for purchase on Christian Boer’s website.(Link) The Dyslexie font has proven to be a significant aid in the learning process for students with dyslexia.

The 「Dyslexie font」 deviates from standard typography rules to assist those with dyslexia.

 

One of the domestic examples of fonts that help us through functionality, beyond just beliefs, is the 「Braille」(Link) by Rare Font(designer Kim Joo-yeon). Complying with the Korean Braille regulations published by the National Institute of Korean Language, Kim created the Braille font 「Rare Braille」. To make Braille readable by both visually impaired and non-visually impaired individuals, Kim also developed 「Rare Braille Hangul 01」. When these two fonts are overlaid, both visually impaired and non-visually impaired people can understand the meaning.

The font includes not only Hangul but also English letters, numbers, punctuation, and commonly used abbreviations as glyphs. This functionality isn't just for aiding the visually impaired but also for fostering communication between the visually impaired and non-visually impaired individuals. Isn't that impressive?

Overlay of 「Rare Braille」 and 「Rare Braille Hangul 01」

 

 

Embedding Values and Beliefs in Fonts

I like the saying that one’s thoughts are influenced by the words they use. The way you express your thoughts through specific words, voice, and tone affects how others perceive your message, ultimately shaping your own thoughts. The same applies to writing—choosing the right font can enhance or diminish the message conveyed by the text. This is why many designers (and many people in general) constantly deliberate on which font to use.

Most fonts are chosen for their appearance. From a user’s perspective, a font is great if it looks good. However, some fonts are chosen for the values and beliefs they represent, much like how we choose products from companies that are conscientious about environmental issues. Despite being small digital files of only a few megabytes, fonts can save significant amounts of ink, raise awareness about global warming, support identities and human rights, change laws, and even become someone’s eyes. This shows that fonts are excellent mediums for embedding values and beliefs. I hope that more fonts representing various values and beliefs will be created, enabling better understanding and communication among people. This mutual understanding could be what we aim for in beauty.

 

 

Reference

빙하 사라지는 현실 담은 ‘기후위기 글꼴 한글’(링크), 뉴스펭귄
글꼴도 점점 사라진다? 기후 위기 심각성을 알리는 무료 폰트 ‘Climate Crisis’(링크), GS칼텍스 미디어허브
에코폰트, 국내에서는 어떻게 활용될까?(링크), 티스토리
에코폰트, 환경을 생각하는 착한 글자(링크), 티스토리
잉크를 ‘아끼는 글자’(링크), 계원디자인예술대학 이용제 교수
오색찬란 타이포그래피 ‘길버트’폰트를 아세요?(링크), 네이버블로그
길버트 폰트 & 길벗체, 서체로 소수자성 드러내기(링크), 월간 디자인
Type and Protest(링크), Communication Arts
I Have a Dream(링크), 위키백과

 

 

Author: Jeong Taeyoung, Sandoll Type Lab Team