Elena Albertoni

Do you know many women designers? So many, more than 50.

Where did you study? Liceo Artistico in Bergamo, Academy of Art and Design ÉSAD of Amiens in France, and higher diploma in typographical creation École Estienne of Paris, still in France. When and how did you become interested in typography? During my studies in graphic design, I was fascinated on one hand by manual writing, then calligraphy, and on the other by the creation of characters, so sign system, black and white work, readability, customization. What are the last 3 typefaces that you used? Working more on lettering I rarely use typefaces. For the latest graphic projects I used characters from the futurefonts library: Oaks, Pyk, Sig.

Do you consider yourself a feminist? Yes.

Do you know examples of women who have not been given credit for their work or who have been forgotten in the history of design? I am sure there are many women in this industry who have remained in the shadows. By the way I recommend the research of Alice Savoie and Fiona Ross on the role of women in the printing industry of the twentieth century (especially at Monotype and Linotype) published the work Women in Type. Do you think it’s important to talk about the gender gap in type design? Do you think the type industry is dominated by men? Yes. It is a problem of visibility (attendances at conferences for example), wages, sometimes prejudice/discrimination. I think it is important not to fall into the illusion that now the change of mentality has happened and that therefore we can “relax”. It is an evolving process that develops and improves only with our own efforts, as mothers, sisters, colleagues.

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? Yes, in my generation the paradox was very evident between good and numerous students, but then absent in the world of work. One of the reasons is definitely motherhood. For women it still has as consequences on career breaks, lower wages, part time work, discrimination, that’s why burnout and depression are not uncommon for those who try to manage everything and respond to high expectations. There is still much to be done in terms of equal rights and duties. Do you think that people associate typography with technical work and therefore purely male? Maybe, but my experience is that just a few people out of the experts know what type is today. I personally was at first very passionate about the technique (production of characters, screen readability, opentype...) but at a certain point it’s this aspect that bored me and made me move away from type design. The technical aspect takes a large slice of the creation of a character.

Do you think that people associate calligraphy with decorative and therefore purely feminine work? I don’t think so.There are many male calligraphers. It seems to me that it is associated more than anything with something from the past, or to some exotic thing (eastern culture for example).

Have you noticed a change in the gender gap in type design since 2018? Women’s voices are heard now, they have come to create important networks (Alphabettesfor example) and there is more awareness.