Marie Boulanger explores how typography perpetuates gender stereotypes
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The Daily Heller: Should Gendered Typography Exist?
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May 25, 2021 8:43 am
“This is great but make it more feminine.” When it comes to fonts, type designer Marie Boulanger says she has heard comments like this “countless times” from clients. “If you think about it from a design point of view, that word contains nothing that designers can use,” Boulanger says. “I think it’s important to examine your bias and ask why you’re saying masculine or feminine and the qualities you’re attaching to gender that you need to express.”
The stereotypes that people apply to typefaces – such as thin, ornamental details for ‘feminine’ fonts and blocky, thicker ones for ‘masculine’ ones – is the subject of Boulanger’s new book, XX, XY: Sex, Letters and Stereotypes, currently being funded via Kickstarter. The book, which started off as a thesis for her MA in type design, investigates the relationships between letters, gender stereotypes and how those impact the wider design industry.
The Crash Palace is a book by Andrew Wedderburn.(Coach House Books, Malcolm Overend)
The Crash Palace is about a woman named Audrey, who used to work in the oil fields and attend parties at a remote lodge in the wilderness known as the Crash Palace. Audrey has long left that life behind her, and now has a daughter. But one night, she is compelled to return to the now-abandoned Crash Palace where she must also reckon with her past.
When you can read it: Jan. 12, 2021
Andrew Wedderburn is a writer from Alberta. He is also the author of
The Milk Chicken Bomb, which was a finalist for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award. He is also a musician, and writes and performs with the groups Hot Little Rocket and Night Committee.