Exhibition: Same Bold Stories? Type Design by Women and Queers in the 20th and 21st Centuries

Same Bold Stories? Type Design by Women and Queers in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Exhibition at the Klingspor Museum, Offenbach am Main, Germany
July 19—November 24, 2024

A Quick Intro

In July, I had the chance to attend the opening of Same Bold Stories?, an exhibition that explores the question: Where are women’s voices in type design that complement the existing history?

While conversations about women in type design are becoming more common, exhibitions on this topic are still pretty rare. That’s why it’s so important to acknowledge and appreciate this effort. The exhibition was developed in collaboration with the Klingspor Museum (Dr. Dorothee Ader, Valerij Ledenev, Tatjana Prenzel), design studio Turbo Type (Laura Brunner, Leonie Martin), and the feminist collective +FEM (Kristina Mukhacheva, Naomi Rado). The opening took place on July 19, and I was lucky to be there. The feedback has been very positive, with media describing it in fitting words like “Fat, brave, and cheeky!” (hr2-Kultur Review) and “Arial, Bold, Times New Roman – Queer and Feminine Font Design” (Deutschlandfunk Kultur Interview). The exhibition runs until November, with various events planned. You can check the details here.

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Shippo: Weaving traditional Japanese pattern into type

In my last semester at Parsons School of Design in New York, Fall 2023, I took the typeface design class with Sabrina Nacmias, the founder of Faire Type and made my own typeface from scratch for the first time. Ever since I started my education in design, I have been fascinated by the ways design layout is governed by a structured grid or set of rules. My curiosity extends to the exploration of typographic designs guided by specific grids. Navigating the delicate balance between creativity and legibility presents a challenge I wanted to tackle.

With my heritage in Japan, I realized that Japanese patterns on textiles consist of different ranges of shapes, which I decided to take inspiration from. One of the patterns is called “shippo” meaning “seven treasures” in Japanese. The Shippo pattern consists of endless circles overlapping each other.

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Dear Alphabettes: Legal protection of typeface design

Dear Alphabettes,

I have a question about the legal protection of typeface design. Is registering a typeface design (in addition to its name) something that should always be done? After asking different lawyers, some would advise doing it each time (more work for them), some say that registering the name is already a protection that can be considered enough, although not 100% protection.

Lisa (France)

NOTE: The answers below are comments from members of Alphabettes. The information shared here is based on their own experiences, and may not necessarily accurately reflect the law in the countries being discussed. We always recommend getting legal advice specific to your situation.

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