Type designer Marie Boulanger has written a book about how typography is a "dangerous tool" for reinforcing gendered stereotypes and bias in design.
Called XX, XY: Sex, Letters and Stereotypes, the book unpacks how fonts can be assigned masculine or feminine associations that are used to reinforce the binary when designing products and packaging.
Top: the back of the book displays chromosomes. Above: its blue and pink spine quips at gender stereotypes
"Type is used as a dangerous tool to cement layers of stereotypes conveyed through every component of design such as type, colour and layout when it shouldn't be," said Boulanger.
"Through association, letters become signs which are instantly perceived as male or female. This takes the focus out of the formal qualities of typefaces," she added. "When used like this, type is a very powerful tool and I want to show that it's up to us to know and do better." The book shows how masculine and feminine attributes are assigned to different typefaces
London-based Boulanger examines typeface anatomy, a term given to the "body parts" of letterforms, and explains how and why we attribute masculine or feminine qualities to fonts.
The designer highlights how bold and confident lettering is often associated with masculinity, while delicate and ornamental typography tends to be deemed feminine.
XX, XY's cover displays a subtle alphabet
XX, XY unpacks how masculine and feminine associations ...