Typography is never neutral
Typography is never neutral, design history often centers the Latin script, overlooking the rich diversity of global writing systems, “vernacular” typography, and alternative letterforms.
As of June 2025, Google Fonts offers 1,633 typeface families for Latin script in contrast to merely 261 typeface families for Cyrillic, 60 for Devanagari, 52 for Arabic, and 39 for Korean. Swiss-style grotesque typefaces continue to dominate contemporary graphic and UI design, mainly due to their reputation for being universal, neutral, and highly legible, reinforcing the Western-centric design status quo. What occurs when certain scripts are marginalized or adapted under colonial influence? Can writing systems, scripts, and letterforms challenge conventional design and societal norms? And how can power relations be renegotiated when designing with two or more scripts?
Writing in the Margins is an independent newspaper by 4th‑semester students from the Graphic Design and Visual Communication program at Berlin International University of Applied Sciences. Created with the academic guidance of Barbora Demovič, Mio Kojima, and Muj Abdulzade, the project reclaims space for diverse writing traditions, scripts, alphabets, non‑conforming letterforms, “vernacular” typography, forgotten glyphs, and their underrepresented stories. Over ten weeks, as part of the Intercultural Design course, students explored how typography carries historical, political, and emotional weight.
Rooted in personal interests, lived experiences, and cultural contexts, the newspaper features contributions from Elmira Bilokon, Klea Çelmanaj, Ferzan Dokumacı, Sarah Elgayed, Laman Gasimova, Inci Isik Goktas, Zeynep Gölbey, Anna Lena Halldórsdóttir, Thelma Rut Haraldsdóttir, Thianon Klausmann, Natalia Kvavilashvili, Azra Nasirlioglu, Sara Sóley, Jakub Pawlowski, Elif Sarihan, Diana Saidova, Hikaru Shiozawa, Laura Smektalska, Mariia Vlasina, Alexander Wagner, Oriana Winiarski, and Hanul Yim.
The works span diasporic writing practices, Korean Shamanic traditions, tattoo and graffiti cultures, Cyrillic handwriting, the Polish School of Poster, Arabesque cassette tape design, and the intersection of writing and cooking. Other contributions highlight cultural shifts in Uzbekistan, Turkey, Iceland, Thailand, Russia, Albania, Georgia, Greece, and the Arabic‑speaking countries, as well as experiments in gaming, hacker, and chatroom typography.
The newspaper was published in an edition of 45 and was released on June 3rd in Berlin.
Image credits:
Barbora Demovič
Layouts by Sara Sóley, Hanul Yim, Thelma Rut Haraldsdóttir, Ferzan Dokumacı
Photography by Thelma Haraldsdóttir
Elmira Bilokon
Ferzan Dokumacı
Jakub Pawlowski
Workshop Images: Barbora Demovič
