Throughout the month of February (2022), Adobe launched a social media campaign that highlighted the stories of Black hidden figures from our creative past (think Lisa Gelobter, the creator of GIF’s and Bruce W. Smith, Animator/Designer and Creator of Proud family).
As a part of this campaign, Adobe tapped Vocal Type to help bring one of these creative historical figures and their story to life via the creation of an original asset. Who that figure was and what that asset was, was completely up to us. Naturally, we decided to make a family of 3 typefaces (uppercase only) inspired by the works of Charles Dawson.
As an illustrator, fine artist, and letterman, Charles worked towards creating a grander historical vision in African heritage and modern progress coexisted. With this in mind, we, naturally, chose to craft a font family (uppercase only) of 3 styles
To ensure that the firm had an identity that was unapologetically black and powerful, Vocal created a bespoke typeface inspired by the remnants of the People’s Free Food Program. ¶ When Black Panther Party founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the party in 1966, their goal was to end police brutality in Oakland. But a faction of the Civil Rights Movement led by SNCC member Stokeley Carmichael began calling for the uplift and self-determination of African-Americans, and soon black power was part of their platform. * ¶ With this new concept in mind, the Black Panthers started the People’s Free Food Program. This program provided free food to black and other oppressed people. The intent of the Free Food Program was to supplement the groceries of black and poor people until economic conditions allowed them to purchase good food at reasonable prices. The Free Food Program provided two basic services to the community: 1. An ongoing supply of food to meet their daily needs. 2. Periodic mass distributions of food to reach a larger segment of the community than could be serviced from the ongoing supply. The community was provided with bags of fresh food containing items such as eggs, canned fruits and vegetables, chickens, milk, potatoes, rice, bread, cereal, and so forth. A minimum of a week’s supply of food was included in each bag. * ¶
The final typeface, aptly named “Impactful,” is inspired by the grocery bags of the People’s Free Food Program. ¶ While they only needed an all caps headline typeface, I thought it would be important for the typeface to have some versatility, should they need it. Characters such as ‘C,’ ‘G,’ 'S,’ and most numerals allow the graphic designer to switch between flat and angled terminals, allowing for two different tones. ¶
