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Display Type BIPOC Fund

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Give Scholarships to BIPOC Students Learning Type Design

Display type is designed to make an unapologetic statement. In a world where marginalized voices are silenced, undermined, and ignored, speaking up against injustice and building up the confidence to simply be oneself is a courageous act.

Hi, my name is Juan Villanueva. I’m a type designer and educator. I’m raising money to fund five seats for BIPOC designers in my Principles of Typeface Design: Display Type class at Type@Cooper.

Keeping the momentum going

A few months ago, I ran a fundraiser to provide a seat for a BIPOC student in my summer session. Within an hour, I had raised the funds — and, to my surprise, many people got in touch to ask if they could still donate. I decided to fund a second seat and again was able to raise the funds faster than I ever dreamed. It became clear that this was something that many people were passionate about, and within a week, I had secured the funds for five students to start their journey into type design.

The experience was completely overwhelming in the best way possible. The fight for racial justice is ongoing and I decided to keep the scholarship ongoing, too. 

We need more BIPOC type designers

Some might say that we have enough typefaces already. But I know that’s not true, just look at the amazing work from my students during the summer session: displaytypedesign.com. 

Each typeface is an idea and provides a unique voice. As a Peruvian type designer and a Latin American person of color from indigenous descent, I’m aware of the lack of diversity, inclusion, and equity in my field. There are people whose ideas and voices we don’t often hear from and they need to be amplified and given priority. If you don’t believe me just ask yourself: how many BIPOC type designers do you know? How many are represented in your design education? And how many typefaces from BIPOC type designers have you used in the past?

I’m trying to do my part to change this through teaching and organizing, and I welcome you to join me.

Thank you all, and please don't donate if it causes you hardship, and please do so only *after* supporting other causes promoting racial justice.

Help spread the word

Please share this with fellow type designers and type enthusiasts, and spread the word among your students to apply for this opportunity. The deadline for submissions is Friday, September 25th, 11:59 PM EST

Where does the money go?

Each student gets a scholarship ($1060) plus $60 for supplies which amounts to $5600 for 5 students. I’m raising $5800 taking into account the 2.9% fee GoFundMe takes from the total and the $0.30 fee per donation.

Thank you!




About Juan

Juan Villanueva is a typeface designer, letterer, and educator in New York City.

He grew up in Lima, Peru, and Clifton, NJ. His heart is in both places and his work reflects both languages and cultures. Juan is a typeface designer at Monotype working on library designs including Helvetica Now and Walbaum as well as custom projects for global brands such as Google, Microsoft, Tencent, Entertainment One, and many others.

He’s taught graphic design at the Cooper Union Summer Art Intensive Program and currently teaches typography at the City College of New York and type design at Cooper Union. He’s a member of AIGA NY, serves on the board of the Society of Scribes, and is the founder of Type Crit Crew, an initiative to make type design education more accessible and inclusive to students anywhere in the world.

He holds a BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration & Animation from Montclair State University and graduated from the Type@Cooper Extended program. He is always taking workshops to improve his skills and most recently, he studied at the University of Reading’s Type Design Intensive focusing on non-Latin scripts and typography.

You can find his latest type & lettering experiments on his website and Instagram account.

Donations 

  • Riccardo De Franceschi
    • $50 
    • 4 yrs
  • Alexander Niko
    • $50 
    • 4 yrs
  • Mark Davis
    • $120 
    • 4 yrs
  • Riley Cran
    • $150 
    • 4 yrs
  • Kathleen Mon
    • $100 
    • 4 yrs

Organizer

Juan Villanueva
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY

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