
Homeless Fonts - ryanwhitney
http://www.homelessfonts.org
======
chanced
This was posted on reddit awhile ago but taken down and reposted several
times.

This bio really made me go "wtf?":

> Loraine was born in London. She was an ordinary, hardworking family person,
> with nothing to worry about beyond paying the rent at the end of the month
> or keeping the fridge full. Until in 2009 she came to Barcelona on holiday.
> Soon after she arrived her passport was stolen from her and she had a series
> of problems with the British embassy. Somebody had made illegal use of her
> passport. So Loraine found herself in a strange place, unable to get home.
> She didn’t know anyone there and her circumstances meant she couldn’t ask
> for help from England, either. She had to sell all her possessions and, in
> time, learn to speak Spanish. “Living in the street is a wonderful
> adventure,” she says. In the street she discovered a new city, a new country
> and a new culture. “There are lots of people who prefer to sleep under the
> stars.” She also made lots of friends who helped her in a completely
> unfamiliar world.

I'm not suggesting the company is involved but that story is incredibly
suspect. They also seem to somewhat glamorize the "street life" in some of
their bios.

~~~
UVB-76
I know this is absolutely not the case in large parts of the world, but in
many developed countries it does takes some degree of desire to remain street
homeless for any significant period of time.

The support is often there for the taking, but some combination of mental
health problems, drug dependency, etc. will see a person "choose" to live on
the streets.

~~~
Mz
I am really uncomfortable with your statement. I am homeless. Well before I
became homeless, I had a class on homelessness. Which is to say this is
something I have both studied and also lived firsthand.

Due to my medical condition, I am unwilling to remain in a homeless shelter.
They simply aren't clean enough for my needs. I would take real help in a
heartbeat if it were available. But the kind of "support" that is available to
homeless individuals is often rather sucky, to say the least.

So, yeah, you could say I "chose" to not go into a shelter and to thus remain
on the street. That isn't completely inaccurate. But it sure makes my life
sound a lot more empowered than I am experiencing it as being.

Let me put it this way: Many people wind up on the street by leaving an
abusive relationship. So you could say, hey, they chose to be on the street.
They could have remained with the person providing a roof over their head. But
it sort of conveniently sweeps their very real problems and challenges under
the rug.

~~~
tommi
What is the real help you need?

~~~
Mz
I need help developing an income that doesn't keep me sick. I run various
websites. At the moment, I need help figuring out how to get traffic. There
are some other things that need work but I think the fact that I don't know
how to get traffic is currently my biggest issue.

------
pessimizer
I find this awful in the typical tone-deaf patronizing upper middle-class
computer professional way - but I also really like Guillermo's handwriting and
its curly flourishes.

------
korzun
I don't know how I feel about this.

In some way this feels cheap. Fonts? Buying fonts to help homeless people?

Having homeless people create fonts that you can license out?

Is this the best we can do? Seriously.

~~~
esMazer
Point taken. We as a society should be doing way more to help these people.
But then again.. when was the last time you really tried to help someone on
the street?

~~~
MrZongle2
I agree that more resources should be directed towards dealing with the causes
of homelessness and helping those who _need_ help. But in response to your
question, consider this:

About two years ago, my wife saw a woman in the parking lot of a large retail
grocery/goods store holding a sign that said "anything helps". She had noticed
this woman before on at least one occasion, and it occurred to my wife that
perhaps _this time_ she would do something to help somebody out.

In addition to the things she needed, she purchased everything required for a
large spaghetti dinner to include Parmesan cheese, a large loaf of fresh
bread, and a box of cookies for dessert. She ensured everything was bagged up
separately so all she had to do was hand it to the woman with the sign.

After loading up our car, my wife drove over to the woman in the sign. She got
out with the bag and as she walked towards the sign-holder, explained "hey, I
just wanted to help out so I bought you everything for a dinner..." to which
the woman replied, "food's not really our issue."

My wife told me that she essentially closed her still-open mouth, did a 180
and got back into the car. We had spaghetti that night.

I relate this _not_ to imply that everybody with a sign implying need is a
fraud, but to suggest that there may be a non-trivial number of people out
there who do not act _because_ they've had an experience similar to the one my
wife had.

~~~
judk
Did you stop to ask what her needs were? If you lost everything except your
food supply, would you be all good to go?

~~~
MrZongle2
The sign "anything helps" would imply that .... _wait for it_ ... _anything_
people could give would be appreciated and used.

It's not like my wife was throwing old socks, underwear and car parts at the
woman. A meal means at the very least, there's one meal you don't have to
_pay_ for.

------
bitlord_219
I like anything that gets the homeless some help, but that zoom-on-mouseover
on the photos is creepy.

~~~
nostromo
They've unwittingly recreated a trick used in negative political ads.

Take a photo of your opponent, make it black and white, use a tight crop, and
then slowly zoom.

------
joshuamerrill
"It's better than new. Now it has a story." -David Mamet

Not only are these beautiful and useful fonts, but each one has a story that's
as unique as the typography itself. I can't wait to use one of these in a
project soon.

~~~
DaveWalk
Nicely said. It might just be my USA-centric views on poverty, but I find the
idea of turning homelessness into a story with a contributed artistic element
--typography--refreshing in a sense. Maybe it's just because all the people
are smiling in their headshots :\

I realize the charity element to it might obfuscate the idea of it being
"art," but I think it strikes an interesting balance between the two. Compare
that to artists who document homelessness and use their art as a kind of
charity, hoping to draw awareness to the issue:
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2090360/Lee-
Jeffries...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2090360/Lee-Jeffries-
haunting-photographs-homeless.html)

------
pxndx
I speak Catalan and Spanish, if anyone is interested I can translate parts of
[http://www.arrelsfundacio.org/](http://www.arrelsfundacio.org/) to English.
Google Translate gives "good enough" translations though.

[http://www.arrelsfundacio.org/que-fem/](http://www.arrelsfundacio.org/que-
fem/) (this translates to rootsfoundation.org/about-us)

> We help homeless people in Barcelona

> We focus on two tasks: Covering the needs of homeless people and supporting
> them in their personal itinerary.

> At Arrels we provide accommodation, food and health and social care to men
> and women living in poor conditions in the streets of Barcelona, and more
> importantly, "we are with them" accompanying them on the long road to regain
> autonomy.

------
ctdonath
Nice collection.

FWIW, the terse title made me wonder if it was a collection of not-used-
anywhere (as far as anyone knows) fonts, for times you're looking for a really
unique font (say, lest there be an unfortunate association-by-typeface).

~~~
pbhjpbhj
I was thinking it was "orphaned" fonts that belonged to font houses that had
closed and so were released to wander amongst the gutters and margins.

------
moinnadeem
Although I'm curious to wonder where the profits go, they seem to be quite
unclear about that:

[http://hyperallergic.com/135700/homeless-fonts-are-a-feel-
go...](http://hyperallergic.com/135700/homeless-fonts-are-a-feel-good-fail/)

~~~
ryanwhitney
From their about page:

"The funds collected through Homelessfonts.org will be used to finance the
work of the Arrels foundation for homeless people in Barcelona."
[http://www.arrelsfundacio.org](http://www.arrelsfundacio.org)

And the director of the foundation responded in a comment on that article:

"All people who are joining the project with their handwriting were homeless
people and now fortunately they have accommodation and receive the support of
Arrels Foundation to go forward in their lifes."
[http://hyperallergic.com/135700/homeless-fonts-are-a-feel-
go...](http://hyperallergic.com/135700/homeless-fonts-are-a-feel-good-
fail/#comment-1474044364)

------
Fastidious
Very interesting project, with curious stories and results that can be used by
all of us. Very well done!

~~~
Throwaway823
It is interesting. At first I thought these fonts were hideous compared to the
ones we know and love, but the examples gave me a little inspiration for them.

Click the photos of the individuals, and they show examples on products or
posters, and they look quite nice, original, and have character. They should
really place these images on the homepage, instead of the written alphabet.

~~~
Raphmedia
Direct link to one such exemple.

[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/540994973960668020/](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/540994973960668020/)

I think those fonts are really great. I could easily see them on a lot of
products and posters. Handwritten fonts give a charm to a lot of products.
Wines bottles comes to mind.

------
sneak
Is anyone else disgusted by this?

~~~
Volscio
DERELICTE! It is a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the
vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique.

~~~
rocky1138
Somewhat related: the Brother Sharp craze a few years ago in China.

[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/brother-
sharp-%E7%8A%80%E5%88%...](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/brother-
sharp-%E7%8A%80%E5%88%A9%E5%93%A5)

------
Mz
Oh, ugh.

Why not "human fonts" or "people fonts"? (Or "natural fonts" or "handwriting
fonts" or...)

The problem I have with this is that if you help people based on the their
status of being homeless, then do they stop qualifying once they are off the
street? That kind of thing is what keeps poor people stuck. It's why the
American welfare system is broken. You first have to qualify as "poor" and
often some other thing to get assistance. Countries that just, say, provide
national healthcare for all citizens, because you exist, help reduce the gap
between rich and poor. Stuff like this helps widen it.

We need to think about how to remove barriers so all people can live well and
all that but you need to treat very carefully with programs which are framed
such that you are basically rewarded for having a problem. That just tends to
promote having that problem. (That's what the American welfare has done: It
changed the social contract to reward being a poor, single mom such that it
increased the incidence of poor, single moms in the population. Great job,
that.)

~~~
iamdave
>Why not "human fonts" or "people fonts"?

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then the lanes are striped
with "person first" language (and all of its mutations).

~~~
Mz
I really don't know what you mean. This is an area I have studied, both
formally and informally. How it is framed matters. The history of what went
wrong with the American welfare system is deeply rooted in the fact that it
was designed to "help poor, single moms" in an era when having a child out of
wedlock was scandalous and just not done. It changed the social contract to
frame it that way and made it far more acceptable to have children out of
wedlock. That framing occurred at a time when most poor, single moms were
widows -- ie "the deserving poor" \-- not women who had given birth outside of
wedlock.

It was done in an unthinking manner and we are still living with the
consequences decades later.

~~~
barrkel
If you think having children out of wedlock is linked to US welfare system
incentives, how do you explain global trends?

I think it has more to do with female equality and increased earning power.
But it's a complex multi-vectored phenomenon not really suited to an off-topic
thread here.

~~~
Mz
I haven't studied global trends. Nor am I suggesting that trends in the U.S.
have only one factor influencing them.

That's kind of a bogus rebuttal.

------
SealClubb3r
Turn your handwriting into a font for free...
[http://www.myscriptfont.com/](http://www.myscriptfont.com/)

------
apendleton
Without commenting too much on the narrative aspects of this (because to be
honest it sort of feels a bit exploitative and icky), I think these typefaces
could be improved quite a bit with the use of some more-powerful OpenType
features, and particularly random contextual alternates, which let you supply
multiple variants of a given glyph of which one is selected at random each
time. It makes handwriting typefaces feel a lot more organic and natural,
since as it is, anytime you have double letters the illusion is broken as it's
plainly obvious that it's the exact same letter form on the page twice (see,
for example, the double L in Guillermo's name).

For an example, see [http://www.graphics.com/news-
old/p22-releases-c%C3%A9zanne-p...](http://www.graphics.com/news-
old/p22-releases-c%C3%A9zanne-pro-font-opentype-format)

~~~
ygra
It's not random, usually, but dependent on the context (mostly so strokes
don't overlap).

~~~
apendleton
The typeface I linked to does both, so there are regular contextual alternates
and ligatures ("ll" gets ligated), but there's also randomization so that the
same word written multiple times looks slightly different. This is a supported
feature of OpenType.

------
fozzieBoston
[http://www.artlifting.com/](http://www.artlifting.com/) does something
similar with art. Both companies seem incredible.

------
thisjepisje
Too bad they use only one glyph per character. Cool project otherwise.

------
vachi
holly shit awesome project, a genuinely great idea

