An Annotation on “Typography’s Retort to Manspreading”

“Typography’s Retort to Manspreading” by Madeleine Morley

Madeleine Morley is, according to her website, a design writer and editor who is from Berlin but currently based in London. Her writings can be found in a variety of well known magazines, including The Observer, Creative Review, Elephant Eye, and Dazed and Confused Magazine. She has held positions such as editor for magCulture and senior editor for AIGA’s Eye on Design. She has also held many lectures about design. Based on the amount of work and positions she’s held, her writings are definitely credible and is a good source.

Morley is specifically talking about a specific typeface, called Good Girl, in this article. Good Girl is designed by Marion Bisserier in 2019, and it was designed in response to Bisserier finding out that although women and men are studying type design in relatively equal percentages, the percentage of women actually working for type foundries is much lower when looking at how many men work there. This typeface Bisserier designed takes up a lot of space so it can be noticed and stand out, bringing attention to the problem at hand. Bisserier called it Good Girl because it’s exactly the opposite and it isn’t polite. A tutor Bisserier had mentioned to her how typography has a tendency to stereotype, because you expect letters like n, h, or m. In her typeface, some letters do play into what you may expect as a viewer, but then she throws in surprises here and there that standout. Even though the topic is more intense, Bisserier didn’t want it to be and she purposefully made it more fun and playful which is why it looks more rounded and has that bubble look to it. Morley, in this interview, also asks Bisserier what this typeface should be used for. Her response is it’s meant to be a display font, something for messages or titles that need to stand out, and it doesn’t need to only be used for feminist messages. As far as font pairings go, Bisserier says a monospaced font would be best, or at least something subtle so it doesn’t take away from the attention grabbing Good Girl font.

Morley, Madeleine. “Typography’s Retort to Manspreading.” Eye on Design, AIGA, 22 July 2019, eyeondesign.aiga.org/typographys-retort-to-manpreading/. 

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