25 Nov Sunrise: Font Aid VII Creates a Collaborative Typeface for Typhoon Haiyan Relief

The Society of Typographic Aficionados is doing it again: in response to the devastation wreaked by Typhoon Haiyan, they’re reissuing their Font Aid fundraising model. Font Aid VII calls on designers and typographers to create glyphs based on the eight-rayed sun featured on the Phillipine flag. The glyphs will be arranged in a typeface that will be offered for sale on the SoTA website; proceeds from the sale will got to Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts. The deadline for submissions is Sunday, December 1st. Participants are asked to submit vector artwork in black and white, to fit within a 10” square. The artwork cannot contain gradients, color, open or stroked paths, embedded images, or glyphs from existing typefaces. Submission guidelines and instructions are posted on the SoTA website.

SoTA has a long history of creating Font Aid initiatives. The original Font Aid project was spearheaded by Swedish designer Claes Källerson in 1999. It raised funds for UNICEF to aid victims of war and national disasters. Since then, Font Aid has been resurrected to meet other disasters: Font Aid II: September 11 (2001); Font Aid III: Fleurons of Hope (2005 – Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis); Font Aid IV: Coming Together (2010 – Haitian earthquake); Font Aid V: Made for Japan (2011 – Japanese earthquake and tsunami); and Font Aid VI: Aster Effects (2012 Hurricane Sandy). The typefaces created for Font Aid VI: Aster Effects and Font Aid V: Made for Japan are still available for sale on the SoTA website. Aster Effects features a glyphs created from astersixes and star symbols, whereas Made for Japan features symbols inspired by Japanese popular culture and historic imagery.