Khalia Robinson, program director of Mighty Writers, a West Philadelphia nonprofit that teaches children how to write, says she wasn’t as offended with the West Philadelphia font as much as she was with its lack of originality. “The two neighborhoods listed that have large minority populations were given fonts that represent “blight” and “graffiti” while the fonts for white neighborhoods celebrate architecture, history, elegance, art galleries and wealth,” one commenter wrote. West Philly’s typeface, according to the ad agency’s website was “inspired by the amazing graffiti artwork that can be found in the area.” Many commenters on pointed out the fonts depicted carried racist undertones: West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia, they noted, were the only neighborhoods described in what could be considered negative language. Blight does not describe our resilience it does not describe us.” “The font was a trite, lazy way of looking at this area. “I welcome anybody coming up with new and different ways to brand, but the execution of this was offensive,” said Malcolm Kenyatta, a North Philly activist and resident.
North Philadelphia, say those who know it well, possesses a rich history of jazz and other forms of entertainment of arts and activism and of an educational mecca in Temple University which has stood on North Broad Street for 125 years. “The North Philly font depicted a narrow view of outsiders that basically says the neighborhood is abandoned and opened for whatever developers want to do.”
“I was appalled,” said Linda Richardson, a North Philly native who is president and CEO of Uptown Theater Entertainment, which is working to restore the Uptown Theater on North Broad Street. The font has since been removed from the site, but you can see it here. While Ross designed typefaces with descriptors such as “elegant,” “edgy hip,” and “regal and stately” for other Philadelphia neighborhoods, North Philadelphians were none too pleased to discover their custom design depicted a plank board typeface “inspired by some of the rough and blighted neighborhoods that still exist there,” according to the company’s website. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor
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