January 28, 2021
2:45 pm
“Everyone found out about Vocal Type at the same time,” Tré Seals says, recalling the race protests from summer 2020. “Part of me felt like it wouldn’t be successful if it wasn’t for George Floyd.”
Vocal Type is the type foundry that Seals runs from Washington, D.C., US – it’s his second venture, following Seals design studio which he closed down last year because of his typography’s sudden popularity. The foundry creates typefaces inspired by protest signs from real-life movements, like the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968 or Vietnman War protests.
Following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of policemen in May last year, protesters got in touch with Seals about buying and using his fonts for protests. On social media, he saw how they were applied to signs and street murals not just in America but across the world. “There were some in Denmark, some in Australia,” he adds. “And that’s when I realised how important Vocal Type was.”