REDACTION
REDACTION
By Forest Young and Jeremy Mickel/MCKL
What does a typeface convey beyond the letters and words typed in its form?
The font used in the prints above might seem familiar, and it should.
“Redaction” is a specially commissioned typeface created by Forest Young and Jeremy Mickel to
accompany an exhibition at MoMA PS1 of the same name in which the artists, Titus Kaphar and
Reginald Dwayne Betts, use redaction as a tool to make verse out of complex legalese. Redaction
began as a hybrid of Times New Roman and New Century Schoolbook, the recognizable typefaces
of common legal documents. In their research, Young and Mickel found that there were many
different kinds of redaction: straightforward black boxes, incomplete redactions, white boxes which
seemingly invite the reader to complete the phrase like mad-libs, and hand-scrawled notations
crossing out text. Consequently, negative shapes were incorporated into the letterforms. The
typeface also includes a range of grades, from subtly analog to barely legible, references the
degradation of documents as they are reproduced the legal system.
Redaction fonts are free for personal use in 3 styles (Regular, Italic, Bold) and 7 grades of
degradation for a total of 21 fonts. Download and share how you use the fonts at https://www.redaction.us/
Redaction typeface by Forest Young and Jeremy Mickel/MCKL.
Curated by Kim Spencer-Nairn
