POWER: Politics vs Typefaces!
The culture war has officially entered your type menu.
Yep — Washington is fighting… over fonts.
You’ve probably already heard this on the news, but I like to follow this up and show you some wild protest fonts that burst with craziness and breathe history!
BUT FIRST, WHAT HAPPENED? Two years ago, the US State Department switched to a new typeface, Calibri, which was designed to be easier on the eyes and more accessible for people with reading difficulties. Now that decision is being reversed, with a forced return to Times New Roman on the grounds that Calibri is “wasteful DEIA.” Yes, the culture war has officially entered your type menu.*
DEIA = Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility. It’s a set of policies and initiatives meant to create a fair, welcoming, and safe environment for everyone — regardless of background, gender, age, disability, religion, or sexual orientation.
Calibri (left) Times New Roman (right)
Of course we all know — fonts aren’t neutral. They carry personality, power and vibe. But here’s the twist: Calibri was literally designed to be neutral. So the uproar isn’t about serifs or readability — it’s about symbolism. Fonts are the battlefield here, not the war.
In short: we’re not arguing about Calibri. We’re arguing about culture.
Photo by Getty Images) Learn More
MEANWHILE, IN REAL DESIGN PRACTICE: While politicians bicker over serifs, designers are doing something way cooler: turning real protest history into living type. Creative, radical, and visually stunning. This feels like the perfect moment to talk about fonts with actual power — protest fonts!
I like to show you four fonts inspired by historic moments in history:
Photo Richard Copley
VTC Martin → This typeface is built directly from the original “I AM A MAN” signs carried during the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike. Every letter is lifted from the wood type used in that march led by Martin Luther King Jr., turning a defining moment of civil-rights resistance into a living, usable font. It doesn’t just look like history — it lets you type it.
Designed by the genius Vocal Type Co
A group of demonstrators holding signs reading ‘Union Justice Now’, ‘Honor King: End Racism!’ and ‘I Am A Man’ march in protest soon after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memphis, TN, April 1968. (Photo by Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images) Learn More
Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images
CARRIE → On October 23, 1915, more than 25,000 women marched up Fifth Avenue in New York City demanding the right to vote — a fight that had already stretched over six decades. Named after suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt, this typeface channels the determination behind the movement that ultimately secured the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. It’s a typographic echo of the women who refused to be invisible — a reminder that every right won had to be carried, shouted, and marched into existence.
Designed by Vocal Type Co
GRETA GROTESK → Greta Thunberg is not just an activist for the climate change. The teenager from Sweden which took the world by storm through her climate strike actions has her own downloadable font.
Inspired by Thunberg’s protest signs the handwritten typeface, aptly named Greta Grotesk is an all-caps font designed by former creative director and SVA instructor Tal Shub:
”In terms of where Tal would like the typeface to be used, he says: “The obvious usage would be to produce any sort of collateral that relates to climate change. But I think the biggest contribution this could have is actually beyond the immediate urge to use it in a poster. Fonts have this amazing ability to trigger
