Stonewall

A campaigning pair of fonts for the loud and proud LGBTQ+ charity.

Logo

Background

Stonewall is a UK LGBTQ+ rights charity. It was founded in 1989 in protest against Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, notoriously anti-gay legislation introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government. The charity takes its name from the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City’s Greenwich Village. In 2021, the charity felt the time was right for a rebrand to mark a new era of ‘bold activism’.

F37 Foundry was commissioned by the JKR Foundation to create two modified fonts as part of Stonewall’s overall rebrand. JKR Foundation is the philanthropic arm of creative design and branding studio Jones Knowles Ritchie, which works with non-profits and social enterprises on a pro-bono basis.

Signage

Print

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The ambition was to create a typeface which captured the bold spirit and human imperfection of protest banners and activist posters to echo the heritage of the LGBTQ+ movement. F37® delivered Stonewall Loud and Stonewall Proud which not only met the strict needs of accessibility but also felt impactful, powerful and engaging in a digital world (without feeling digital). The bespoke typeface empowers Stonewall to look and sound like the leader they are, taking them forward into a new era of bold activism and unapologetic pride.

Martin Francis — Creative Director, Jones Knowles Ritchie

Merch

Badges

Delivery

We looked back to the early days of Stonewall for inspiration, sourcing protest placards and activist posters from the early 1990s as reference. We also took inspiration from the strident headline font that the Village Voice, America’s first alternative newspaper, was using around that time.

Stonewall Loud is a modification of F37 Judge and is an all upper-case font, while Stonewall Proud features both upper- and lower-case alphabets. They are both bold and uncompromising, chanting their messages clearly and confidently.

Deliberately pared-back, angular and slightly rough around the edges, the Stonewall fonts borrow heavily from the no-nonsense graphic language of protest marches, disaffection and activism. They stand tall and slightly condensed, which imbues them with a sense of pride and solidarity.