By Perrin Grauer
Designer and ECU faculty member Leo Vicenti helped lead the development of the scholarship which aims to support Indigenous voices in the field of design.
A new scholarship led by the Type Directors Club (TDC) will support Indigenous designers in typography, type design and linguistic work.
Designer and ECU faculty member Leo Vicenti helped lead the scholarship’s development.
“The Ezhishin scholarship is groundbreaking,” he says. “Our hope is to acknowledge and respect the spiritual life of Indigenous languages, and support the empowerment of the linguistic diversity of this continent, which has historically underrepresented Indigenous worldviews.”
The TDC announced the Google-funded scholarship during its first Ezhishin conference in November. Ezhishin takes its name from the Ojibwe word for “s/he leaves a mark.” The event is billed as the “first-ever conference dedicated to Native North American typography.”
Leo and Ksenya Samarskaya, managing director at the TDC, coordinate the scholarship program.
“There are few Native American type designers operating today,” the TDC says in a statement. Meanwhile, “much of the type used by Native practitioners [is] designed by non-Natives.”
Leo adds that the Ezhishin scholarship fills this long-overlooked gap in the design world. Creating financial support for Indigenous designers in type-related disciplines will help Indigenous voices flourish in the design field.
Read the full article on ECU News.
[image courtesy of Frankie McDonald]