Ugly Gerry is a font that uses the shapes of United States congressional districts for each of its characters, created in 2019 as a protest against gerrymandering.[1][2][3][4] It was designed by Ben Doessel and James Lee of the Leo Burnett Agency in a project for RepresentUs.[5][6]
 | |
| Category | Script (typefaces) |
|---|---|
| Designers | Ben Doessel and James Lee |
| Date released | September 2019 |
Design
editThe designers' intention was to draw attention to gerrymandering:[5]
The team is from Chicago, and after seeing how janky our Illinois 4th district had become, we became interested in this issue. ... Its notorious earmuff shape looked like a U, then after seeing other letters on the map, the idea hit us, let's create a typeface so our districts can become digital graffiti that voters and politicians can't ignore.
Shapes that loosely resemble the letters 'A' through 'Z' were used to create the (uppercase) font.[7] Some of these shapes are not of single districts but instead combine pairs.[8]
Ugly Gerry has been called "the world's most revolting font".[5]
| Letter | District(s) |
|---|---|
| A | California's 3rd and Texas's 35th |
| B | Ohio's 12th and 7th |
| C | Connecticut's 1st |
| D | Missouri's 8th |
| E | Missouri's 6th |
| F | Oregon's 5th |
| G | Ohio's 4th |
| H | North Carolina's 6th |
| I | Texas's 15th |
| J | Illinois's 18th |
| K | Alabama's 1st |
| L | New York's 7th |
| M | New York's 8th |
| N | Illinois's 11th |
| O | Arizona's 6th |
| P | Florida's 25th |
| Q | Texas's 12th |
| R | Ohio's 10th and Michigan's 13th |
| S | Tennessee's 4th |
| T | California's 43rd |
| U | Illinois's 4th |
| V | New Jersey's 5th |
| W | New York's 8th |
| X | California's 8th and 14th |
| Y | Illinois's 12th |
| Z | Indiana's 8th and Ohio's 8th |
Usability
editThe Ugly Gerry font has no numerals or special characters. It provides only the capital letters 'A' to 'Z' (no lowercase) and some punctuation. At the foot of each page of its website is "No rights reserved".[9]
Recognition
editReferences
edit- ↑ Epstein, Kayla (August 3, 2019). "How do you spell 'gerrymandering is bad?' With a font made out of preposterous districts". Washington Post.
- ↑ Panetta, Grace (August 2, 2019). "There's a new downloadable font inspired by gerrymandered congressional districts". Business Insider. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
- ↑ "Ugly Gerry Font". Fonts Arena. August 2, 2019.
- ↑ Beschizza, Rob (August 1, 2019). "Ugly Gerry, a font based on gerrymandered districts". Boing Boing. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
- 1 2 3 Campbell-Dollaghan, Kelsey (August 2, 2019). "The world's most revolting font is made out of gerrymandered voting districts". Fast Company. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
- 1 2 "2020 ADC Awards - Typography: Ugly Gerry". The One Club for Creativity.
- ↑ Coldewey, Devin (August 2, 2019). "This free, ugly font is made from hideously gerrymandered districts". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
- ↑ Lyons, Kathryn (August 2, 2019). "Ugly Gerry wants you to know the 'ugly' truth about gerrymandering". Roll Call. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
- ↑ "Ugly Gerry". Retrieved April 6, 2021.
External links
edit- Official website (archived 2019 version)
- Official website (2024 version)