Thoughts on Typography & Layout - Printed Publication
A collection of essays designed and typeset for a printed publication exploring female voices through typography and layout.
Scope
Print Layout
Tools
Adobe InDesign
Date
May 2025
Context
Thoughts of Typography and Layout was an exploration of typography essays by Beatrice Warde, Katherine McCoy, Ellen Lupton, and Madeleine Morley resulting in a fully-designed and typeset printed publication.
Purpose
McCoy’s essay ‘The Women Readdressing the Gender Imbalance in Typography’ spoke to me particularly as a queer, female designer coming into an industry that has historically stifled queer and female voices. Women make up over half of the design industry but there are still so few at the top. Inspired by McCoy’s essay, I wanted the overall design of my publication to subvert the idea that female design needed to be masculine to be taken seriously.
Approach
Throughout my publication, pink, a historically feminine semiote, is used to emphasise key quotes and themes of the selected female-written essays, drawing attention to female work and ideas. Additionally, Inclusive Sans, designed by Olivia King, a sans serif created with accessibility in mind, ties all the essays together, allowing for readability. 6x6 grids were used to allow me to experiment with layouts across the four essays while also maintaining a cohesive structure to ensure a sense of interconnection.
Lupton, Ellen. 2003. “The Science of Typography”, Print 57 (5): 22–185.
Morley, Madeleine. 2016 “The Women Redressing the Gender Imbalance in Typography.” Eye on Design, 28 September 2016, https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/the-women-readdressing- the-gender-imbalance-in-typography/.
McCoy, Katherine and David Frej. 1988. “Typography as Discourse”, ID Magazine 35 (5): 34– 37.
Warde, Beatrice. 1956. “The Crystal Goblet, or Why Typography Should be Invisible”, The Crystal Goblet, Sixteen Essays on Typography. Cleveland: World Publishing.
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