Women of Type with AIGA

Last week I attended AIGA's "Women of Type event featuring Jess Goldsmith, part of their Fresh Dialogue series, which brings together critical conversations on current events, cultural issues, and emerging topics in design.

Jess Goldsmith, founder of Women of Type, and its editor Artavia Jarvis, spoke about transforming a digital platform into a real-world community that fosters and showcases the work of women and nonbinary artists from around the globe. Women of Type is both a book and a community, featuring over 130 artists from more than 20 countries across five continents. What began as a small corner of the internet has grown into something genuinely vibrant, and the book stands as a testament to the diverse beauty and power of typography.

Jess Goldsmith & Artavia Jarvis

I have always been fascinated by typography, and particularly by the incredible contributions women have made to the field, contributions that have too often gone unrecognized. From Zuzana Licko, who founded Emigre Fonts in 1984, to Beatrice Warde, whose landmark essay "The Crystal Goblet" was published in 1932, women have been responsible for some of the most iconic and enduring work in typographic history. Paula Scher is another who stands out, her bold and dynamic approach visible in branding work for Citibank, Microsoft Windows, and the Public Theater, among others.

What I love most about the Women of Type community is that it makes room for the women who may not carry the same name recognition as Scher, Licko, or Warde, but whose work is no less significant. Seen or unseen, the contributions are extraordinary.

Hearing Goldsmith speak about the organic curation process behind the platform, and the care she put into crafting her self-published book, was genuinely inspiring. She identified a gap in how women's work in typography and design was being recognized and built something to fill it. It is a powerful reminder of what social media can be when it is used intentionally, as a tool to amplify underrepresented voices and bring deserved visibility to work that might otherwise go unnoticed.

A copy of Women of Type can be purchased here.