Designing a typeface for the Mother Emanuel church memorial
The typeface to be used in the memorial, honoring those killed in the 2015 church shooting, was inspired by the stained glass lettering in the church. Also in this week’s issue of the Yello newsletter:
Republicans tap “Apprentice” producers for convention
The story behind Amy Sherald’s Breonna Taylor painting
AOC turns makeup tutorial into lesson on gender politics and self love
Yours,
Designing a typeface for the Mother Emanuel church memorial
Credit: courtesy Morcos Key
A memorial is being planned to remember the nine worshipers who were killed by a white supremacist in 2015 at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the memorial will display their names in a custom typeface.
“So much care is put into the design of the architecture of the memorials, but people tend to simply default to nondescript or nonspecific typography for the listing of the names or whatever inscription goes on,” said Michael Bierut, a partner at the design firm Pentagram, which provided pro bono counsel on the project. “The names actually are what connect them to the human beings that the work is memorializing and honoring.”
Bierut and Pentagram associate partner Jonny Sikov traveled to Charleston and met with Reverend Eric Manning to tour the church, and what stood out to them was the hand lettering on stained glass windows.
“We were really trying to see what’s already there in the church,” Bierut said. “What could be something that could link this new memorial to how the church existed over its history?”
Credit: courtesy Morcos Key
Designers Wael Morcos and Jon Key, co-founders and partners at the Brooklyn studio Morcos Key, created the typeface after looking through images from the church. Morcos, who is from Beirut, Lebanon, is experienced with Arabic typography, an asset when creating ornate blackletter type. Their lettering had to be designed specifically for stone, which meant, for example, it couldn’t be too thin, he said.
“The thin parts of the letters would not be very delicate, the spacing between the letters had to be a little bit accommodating of the structure in which they are carved,” Morcos said. Ultimately, the typeface “helps make the story more specific to these lives.”
Credit: courtesy Morcos Key
Key, who grew up in Seale, Alabama, was familiar with the style of Black Southern churches and wanted to keep the idiosyncrasies of the hand-done type.
“It was nice comparing all of these specific nuances that appeared in the hand-done typography and comparing it to historical instances of blackletter,” he said. “I think one of the things for us was we wanted a blackletter that had the same type of softness as if it was made by hand, keeping in mind that obviously, the end result typeface was going to be used carved in stone.”
The designers saw the project as a way to use their skills to give back and they were struck by the permanence their work would have.
“Usually, our work is printed on paper or online, and you’re lucky if what any of what you create lasts more than a decade or two,” Key said. “It’s kind of quite exciting that their names will even outlive the designers that designed them.”
Credit: Handel Architects
The memorial was designed by Michael Arad of Handel Architects, who also designed the National September 11 Memorial at Ground Zero. It will include curved stone benches around a marble fountain that will display the victims’ names and a cross. The expected groundbreaking is in 2021, and if you would like to donate to the memorial, you can do so here.
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Republicans tap “Apprentice” producers for convention
Credit: C-SPAN
Two former producers from President Trump’s old job, “The Apprentice,” were involved in organizing Republicans’ convention this week, according to the New York Times. Sadoux Kim, who worked as head of business development for “Apprentice” creator Mark Burnett, is lead consultant, and Chuck LaBella, a former talent wrangler for “Apprentice,” is also consulting.
The main hub of the convention is the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. You may have noticed the alternating signage posted on the lectern Monday, which appeared to be different for live versus pre-taped speeches:
The story behind Amy Sherald’s Breonna Taylor painting
Credit: Joseph Hyde for Vanity Fair
Amy Sherald, the artist behind Michelle Obama’s official portrait at the National Portrait Gallery, painted an image of Breonna Taylor for the cover of the September issue of Vanity Fair. Though it was made for the magazine, she said it was really for Taylor’s family. “The whole time I was thinking about her family.”
Sherald typically begins her work by taking a photograph of her subject, but without being able to do so for Taylor, she studied photos of the 26-year-old and used a model with similar physical attributes, according to Vanity Fair. The crepe dress, by Atlanta designer Jasmine Elder, was made specifically for the cover and Sherald said it reminded her of Lady Justice.
“The hand on the hip is not passive, her gaze is not passive,” Sherald said. “She looks strong! I wanted this image to stand as a piece of inspiration to keep fighting for justice for her.”
Sherald worked through multiple color options for the painting, including yellows, reds, and pinks, before deciding on the aquamarine blue. “I wanted it to feel ethereal but grounded at the same time,” she said, and, “the monochromatic color allows you to really focus on her face. The whole painting really becomes about her.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote the cover story, an interview with Taylor’s mother Tamika Palmer.
AOC turns makeup tutorial into lesson on gender politics and self love
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) gave Vogue a look at her skincare and makeup routine in a video released Friday. Her signature red lip became her go to during her first campaign, she said, because “sometimes the best way to really look put together is a bold lip,” and she thinks beauty is an important topic.
“The reason why I think it’s so important to share these things is first of all, femininity has power, and in politics, there is so much criticism and nitpicking about how women and femme people present ourselves,” she said. “Just being a women is quite politicized here in Washington.”
Ocasio-Cortez said while having an interest in beauty and fashion can be looked down on, “I actually think these are some of the most substantive decisions that we make and we make them every morning.” She said that while you should wear make up if it’s something you like doing or if it gives you confidence, the pressure to show up to work in full glam to get ahead professionally is “the complete antithesis of what beauty should be about.”
“At that point, these calculations and decisions stop being about choice and they start being about patriarchy where if we look attractive to men, then we will be compensated more,” she said.
AOC signed off by saying she believes beauty is an “inside job.”
“No amount of money or makeup can really compensate for loving yourself, and so make sure that you do that. That is the one foundation of everything,” she said. “You are a blessing to the world, your talents are a blessing to the world no matter who you are, there is something that you bring and you need to know that, and that is the best beauty secret of them all.”