Valentina Alga Casali

Do you know many women designers? Enough, we try to keep in touch. When and how did you become interested in typography? I became interested in typography and lettering when I was studying at the former School of Comic, I studied graphic design there. There was no internal course, so from 2009/2010 I started to go back and forth from Jesi to Arezzo to take calligraphy lessons from Monica Dengo. For me the fastest mental association was: what is the origin of typography? Calligraphy, so I decided to start there. It was an annual course, we had intensive weekends throughout the year and from there I started attending parallel courses of sign painting, type design etc. I realized I wanted to only deal with letters very late though, for many years I did graphic design. It was only when I moved to Milan that I realized that it could be a path to take, so at a certain point I decided to throw myself in it at 25. What are the last 3 typefaces that you used? Obviously di James Edmondson, Forma di David Jonathan Ross, Fraunces by Undercase Type.

Do you consider yourself a feminist? I would say yes, maybe not very active, but absolutely yes.

Is there a figure you’re particularly inspired by in type design? Probably Zuzana Licko of Emigre. To me their typographical experimentation was at the forefront, despite their golden age being passed. I have always admired the depth of their work and the fact that they sweep a lot between experimental and historical, they manage to have everything. She also as collateral practices such as ceramics that she creates, it’s what I’m trying to do myself. Do you think there are too few women in the role of leader in the field of type design? Now things are changing, in history they are definitely. If there was a woman in charge of a department, they saw it as something that was there, but that didn’t matter.

Do you think it’s important to talk about the gender gap in type design? It must be addressed in all fields of work! I think it’s important to talk about it and especially not to hide when money is mentioned, when it comes to gender pay gap. Do you think the type industry is dominated by men? If we look at companies like Monotype yes, they have only one woman, so i think it’s still like so. In independent foundries things certainly move differently, there is a different percentage.

You think it’s generational? Could be.

In universities where you study graphic design, students usually don’t notice a lot of gender gap, but when they graduate, it’s inevitable to see it in the work world. Have you ever noticed this? Why do you think it happens? Probably when I went to school it was not perceptible, but now it is. The thing that’s happening now though is to use the type designer role as a token. You get called as a woman, to make a number, and that is worse than being replaced by a male colleague. I mean that if a man is chosen because he is simply more competent it is okay, but the fact that now companies hire simply because we’re women it’s even more demeaning.

Do you think that people associate typography with technical work and therefore purely male? Yes and no. Often people do not know what it’s meant by type design, but in general yes, but because it is what has passed for many years, so banally out of habit. Do you think that people associate calligraphy with decorative and therefore purely feminine work? It could be, but there are many men who practice calligraphy, even ornamental. But, yeah, maybe a gender bias. Have you noticed a change in the gender gap in type design since 2018? Yeah, absolutely. There is a very strong opening, probably also due to the pandemic, and therefore to the use of online tools for school education giving a way to women, bipoc and other minorities to access courses or knowledge that otherwise would cost too much. It will however take a few years for the figures that are growing now to reach central roles.