Typography: how to avoid stereotypes?

 Typography is not free from stereotypes. Some fonts are associated with a significant historical event, others systematically refer to a country or culture. This is called stereo typography.

So, how can you avoid stereotypes when choosing typography ? Here are some avenues to explore to better understand stereo typography and thus avoid it.

What is stereo typography?

A font necessarily arouses emotions. It is used to support the meaning and feeling of a graphic design. The suggestive power of typography is therefore very important. In some cases, this suggestive power gives a cultural or ethnic meaning to a typography.

Luxury , futurism , war… We associate our font choices with very varied concepts. In this case, the stereotype, although present, is not yet insulting. On the other hand, many fonts are automatically perceived as exotic.

Warning: A consideration based on their context of use and not on their innate characteristics. Because stereotypical fonts were never originally designed to represent one part of the population rather than another.

The sometimes racist connotations of these fonts have actually gradually developed. Their repeated appearances on promotional posters and book covers have gradually made them intrinsically linked to prejudice, reinforcing their ethnic or cultural connotation in the mind of the public.

The stereotype is a necessary element in the development of social identity. But it is also an extremely simplistic thought pattern that is not always easy to overcome. Indeed, we are all subject to prejudice, even unconsciously.

These fonts with obvious stereotypes

The vast majority of typographies assimilated to a country or culture have been victims of stereotypes since the colonial rise of Western civilization. These fonts are often clearly marked by the racist context of this era which reduces the complex culture of a country to a simple cultural trait, which is also considered primitive.

It was during this period that typographies with Asian, Arabic or even Greek accents... saw the light of day.

New territory

One of the most marked is none other than Neuland, considered at the beginning of the 20th century as a waste typography. It will then copiously fuel the incontestably racist African-American visuals.

In the 1940s, it continued to be used to represent the black population, but lost its racist character for that of a stereotype.

ChopsUey

Another example you might recognize is the ChopsUey font which completely lacks flavor and nuance.

This so-called “Asian” typography imitates one or two small brush strokes in order to form an alphabet which is in fact far from translating the nuances and harmony of calligraphy.

Gothic fonts

Some fonts have also been marked by history. How can we not cite here the example of Gothic fonts which still suffer today from their use in Nazi propaganda. In the years 30 to 45, they were even considered as a distinctive Aryan sign.

Among the fonts appreciated by Nazism, there is a much more modern one: Futura, which Hitler was particularly fond of. The latter, however, no longer suffers from its history, unlike gothic fonts which always have very strong connotations.

Choose your typography while avoiding stereotypes

To escape the diktat of the stereotype, prefer to choose your fonts according to their personality:

You can also choose to create your own typography completely free of stereotypes. As long as you get rid of your unconscious biases.

It is now up to marketers to adopt new typographic practices and thus aim for more neutrality.

We can and must no longer allow ourselves to use fonts that are considered racist at worst, or reductive and simplistic at best. Especially since if a typography is not racist as such, its use can quickly become racist.

Conclusion

Stereo typography unfortunately still has many years ahead of it, for the simple reason that it is commercially effective.

Reductive, without subtlety and peddling heavy prejudices, it nevertheless functions as an effective visual shortcut. It thus sets, at a single glance, the tone of a graphic design.