The Mysteries of History: Uncovering Obscure Type & Design History Has Changed My Path as a Designer

A couple months ago I began a new segment on my weekly podcast that teaches listeners about type and design history that likely wasn’t included in their formal education. Oftentimes, these intricate and nuanced histories didn’t fit into the mainstream art and design movement of their time. As outliers, they were often ignored by educators, popular discourse, and publications. It was soon revealed to me that these obscure topics spoke volumes about our society and explained several cultural and aesthetic trends I previously had taken for granted. In my talk, I’m going to discuss a few of the stories I uncovered in my informal research and share how they have affected my thinking as a designer. Topics will include the complex history of blackletter’s affinity with subcultures, the largely under-recognized Data Portraits by W.E.B. Du Bois that visualized institutionalized racism in America, the centuries-long story of skeuomorphism, and the transcontinental history of our transition from Roman to Arabic numerals. As type users and designers, we are responsible for how we reuse aesthetic motifs from the past. It’s time to reshape our design history education to include stories from a more global perspective and to stop discounting these lesser known (but equally important) anecdotes. By sharing my experience, I hope to spark curiosity in others and inspire the audience to consider how we pass on our knowledge to the next generation of creators.