This page is an attempt to answer the frequent question “Where are the Black type designers?” The definition of type designer varies, from professionals who make a majority of their income in typeface design to those who have simply created a single font. This list applies the broadest definition; it includes anyone who identifies as Black and has worked in type design at some point in their career.
Aleme Tadesse
Anna Diagne
Forest Young
Hendrika Makilya
Marks Salimu
Schessa Garbutt
Silas Munro
Wasbigo Obege
| Name | Birthplace / Current Location | Personal Site or Bio | Company/Foundry | Fonts In Use | Notes | Selected Typefaces | Specimens | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adebowale Adegoke | Nigeria | madebyDebo | type designer | |||||||
Agnès Brézéphin-Coulmin | MartiniqueFrance | Born in Martinique. Teaches at the Campus Caraïbéen des Arts. One of the first female type designers in France. Trained 1994–1996 under Franck Jalleau, Michel Derre, and Margaret Gray among other teachers and designed a typeface for the creole dialect, Coolie. Joined ANRT in 1996-97, where she worked on the digitization of Jean Widmer’s Bi-89 (unreleased, designed for the Revolution celebration years before, not used) and continued her previous project. [Sebastien Morlighem via email] | Coolie, Bi-89 | type designer | ||||||
Agyei Archer | Trinidad & Tobago | type designer | ||||||||
Aleme Tadesse | Ethiopia | “an Ethiopian type designer, game maker, and publisher, based in the US, who works in the Ge‘ez script. He doesn't have much of a web presence, but I can put you in touch via email.” — Tiro | type designer | |||||||
Alonzo Felix | USA | Type@Cooper grad. Offers an Introduction to Typeface Design course on Skillshare. | type designer | |||||||
Anna Diagne | France | |||||||||
Arthur Francietta | MartiniqueFrance | Thaurr Caps | type designer | |||||||
Baynham Goredema | Zimbabwe | type designer | ||||||||
Blondina Elms Pastel | Barbados | “first black woman type designer … and first type designer from the Carribbean!” — Agyei Archer
Founder of Elms and Typote Design Workshops. | Naej, Calina, Dinah | type designer | ||||||
David Williams | United Kingdom | MA Typeface Design from The University of Reading
“Manchester Type has supported Google in their development of multi-script, non-Latin variable fonts including Noto Kufi Arabic, Noto Naskh Arabic and Noto Sans Sora Sompeng for the Google Fonts library.” — Manchester Type
Profile in TYPE. | foundry founderfoundry ownertype designer | |||||||
Denis Moyogo Jacquerye | Belgium | “the Belgian co-leader of the DejaVu font project (free fonts based on Bitstream Vera), the default GUI for fonts on several Linux OS distributions” — Devroye | type designer | |||||||
Fhumulani Nemulodi | South Africa | type designer | ||||||||
Forest Young | USA | He had a creative direction role in Redaction, which was designed with Jeremy Mickel for Titas Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts. | type designer | |||||||
Frank Adebiaye | France | Founder of Velvetyne. | foundry foundertype designer | |||||||
Hendrika Makilya | USA | Type@Cooper, Class of 2014.
“I'm a multidisciplinary creative with an emphasis on design as storytelling, product design, and art direction. I solidified my aesthetic designing for the IBM team at VSA Partners and went on to create B2B apps and web collateral as a freelance designer. Later, I joined DDB where gained 360 & social media experience as an art director for State Farm, Aveeno, RoC Skincare, Exxon, and Hertz. Recent collaborations have included projects for Apple, Google, Twitter, and eBay.” | type designer | |||||||
Jaamal Benjamin | USA | Type@Cooper, Class of 2021 | Harlemecc, Garvey | type designer | ||||||
Joshua Darden | USA | Founded Darden Studio in 2004. Sold to Joyce Ketterrer in 2019, still actively designing type.
“as far as I know, Joshua Darden was the first, and is still to this day the only prominent black type designer in the world. Let's pause here for a moment and think about the strangeness of that fact. How can it be that no other black person has ever been brought into the culture and offered mentorship in this industry? There is no answer for this that doesn't point toward an ugly truth. It can’t be explained away or disregarded. What does it say about our industry, and the socio-economic and racial dynamics of our world? I wonder how many other Joshua Dardens are out there. What kind of new ideas, perspectives, and styles would they bring to this field if given the opportunity?” — Lucas Sharp | foundry foundertype designer | |||||||
Kevin Adams | USA | type designer | ||||||||
Kevin Karanja | Kenya | Interviewed on Revision Path in 2014. | type designer | |||||||
Kombo Chapfika | Zimbabwe | type designer | ||||||||
Kwesi Amuti | USA | foundry ownertype designer | ||||||||
Lomedy Mhako | Zimbabwe | type designer | ||||||||
Marconi Lima | Brazil | foundry ownerfoundry foundertype designer | ||||||||
Marks Salimu | South Africa | Signpainter whose letters were converted to a font by Sunshinegun for Nando’s custom typeface. | type designer | |||||||
Osmond Tshuma | ZimbabweSouth Africa | type designer | ||||||||
Phenias Machila | Zimbabwe | type designer | ||||||||
Samuel Mensah-Bonsu | United Kingdom | type designer | ||||||||
Schessa Garbutt | USA | Identity designer, Firebrand studio founder, Type West 2021 graduate. | ||||||||
Seb Garry (AKA Tapiwanashe Sebastian Garikayi) | Zimbabwe | Currently (2020) working on fonts “for as many Afrikan writing systems as possible” [Twitter]
Typographics 2021 presentation | Mused, Mutapa | type designer | ||||||
Silas Munro | USA | type designer | ||||||||
Terry Biddle | USA | type designer | ||||||||
Tré Seals | USA | Oyinkan Karunwiwww.seals.studio | Seals designs typefaces inspired by moments (artifacts and/or stories) in civil rights history. | type designer | ||||||
Victor Bagu | South Africa | type designer | ||||||||
Wasbigo Obege | Kenya | Working on a font for Lakeside Script. | type designer | |||||||
Émilie Aurat | France | “just finished a font and body of research on the Afaka writing system” — Agyei Archer | Maroni, Joli-Coeur, Quilombos, Samain, Tituba, | type designer |
What Inspired this Page
The question asked in 2020, with many designers listed in replies, forming the basis of this database.
Talks on Black Type Designers & African Writing Systems
BIPOC Scholarships for Type Design & Lettering Education
Open for Applications
Letterform Archive offers a BIPOC scholarship in each of its public workshops and the Type West program.
Deadlines Passed (but may be recurring)
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Typography By and About African Americans
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