User:M.minnican/sandbox

= Tré Seals = Tré Seals is a graphic designer and typographer based in Washington DC. He is the founder of Vocal Type, a type foundry whose typefaces have been used in a variety of settings, from branding to protests.

Biography
Tré Seals is from Washington DC and identifies as black. He graduated from university in 2015 with a degree in Visual Communication Design.

Vocal Type
In 2016, Seals founded a type foundry, Vocal Type, with the intention of diversifying the design industry through the medium of type. He was inspired to do this after finding a lack of diverse inspiration when designing a brand identity and reading Dr. Cheryl Holmes-Miller’s 1987 thesis Black Designers Missing In Action and the sequel, Black Designers: Still Missing In Action. When thinking of the best way he could bring diversity into design, he came up with Vocal Type, a type foundry that would aim to introduce a piece of minority culture into an integral part of graphic design: typography.

He runs the foundry from a refurbished barn in Washington and takes the inspiration for the typefaces from typographic ephemera from civil rights movements throughout history and across the world. The typefaces are often named after prominent individuals within these movements, with the most well-known being Martin, after Martin Luther King Jr., Bayard, after Bayard Rustin and Marsha, after Marsha P. Johnson, the typefaces for which Seals credits, along with the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, for Vocal Type’s success. They were used by displays across the world; Australia, Germany, England, New York, California, Brazil and more, bringing attention to these typefaces and the others designed by the foundry, allowing Vocal Type to become Seals main venture. Not all the movements that Seals takes inspiration from are as well-known as the one lead by Martin Luther King Jr., part of the reason for creating the typefaces is to raise awareness for the movements he is inspired by and that he researches to ensure he is not taking advantage of the cause , or perpetuating a stereotype of the culture he is inspired by. The process behind the typefaces and the history of the events that inspired them can be found on Vocal Type’s website along with pictures of the pieces that Seals was inspired by and some background on those that the typefaces are named after.

Through the foundry, Seals has released 17 typefaces since its launch 2016, inspired by a variety of causes including racial, sexual, and queer equality.

Process
Seals stresses that the research he puts into his projects is extensive and ongoing throughout his design process, to ensure that he approaches the topics with the appropriate sensitivity, and is often helped along by feedback from Seals’ online communities.

The typographic ephemera that Seals takes his inspiration from ranges from hand-drawn protest placards to printed matter, with the historical documentation of these pieces usually being limited to protest photographs, angling these photos in Photoshop is sometimes necessary and can sometimes require further adaptation to remain faithful. From these angled photos, Seals traces the lettering, then uses parts of the included characters to form the letters and symbols that are not included in the signs. Although Seals designs the typefaces himself, he encourages collaboration from the community, in one case, someone using the ‘Marsha’ typeface asked if they could change the letter ‘r’, and this adaptation is now a part of the font family.

Awards

 * Forbes 30 Under 30 (North America)
 * Instagram & Brooklyn Museum (Black Design Visionary)
 * The One Club For Creativity (Young Guns 17)
 * Type Directors Club (Ascender 2018)
 * Communication Arts (Typography Annual)
 * Communication Arts (Design Annual)
 * AIGA (50 Books 50 Covers)

Publications

 * Designing Spike Lee
 * Dream In Color: 30 Posters of Power by 30 Black Creators

Other Links
https://fontsinuse.com/foundry/3093/vocal