photo: Jessie Zenor
Document, catalog, research, and share.
The Center for Vernacular Typography
Vernacular type is a fleeting thing. It's often created for an immediate purpose and without intention of it lasting. The Center for Vernacular Typography seeks to document these typographic artifacts in their natural environments. Once documented, our mission is then to catalog, research, and exhibit the findings.
Defining vernacular
Outside of the field of linguistics, it's a challenge to find a satisfactory definition of 'vernacular' to work with. However, the term "vernacular typography" does conjur a similar image in many peoples' minds. The real challenge presents itself in the gray areas. For example, to what extent should factory manufactured lettering be considered vernacular? Is it simply a matter of the applier? What if that is not known? We intend to address these taxonomic questions through our work.
Our working definition is as follows:
Vernacular typography: Letterforms selected, created, or applied by persons whose occupation is not derived from regular work with letterforms.
So, is that definition ideal? Probably not, but it's a place to start. We'll be further refining the definition as we move forward.
Field Work
To gather artifacts from the broadest geographic spectrum, we rely on the participation of the general public as field documentarians. We are in the process of developing a Field Documentarian's Manual containing the specifics of what is needed to achieve adequate documentation. The manual also explains in detail how the material will be used. Full credit is given to each documentarian.
As this project develops, the centralized uploading location for photographic specimens is on the Center's flickr group:
