Font Aid VI: Aster Affects
Font Aid VI: Aster Affects may be purchased for $20US through the SOTA Store.
A collaborative typeface for Hurricane Sandy relief
In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck portions of the Caribbean, mid-Atlantic, and northeastern United States with a vengeance. Sandy was the largest Atlantic “superstorm” on record and is currently ranked as the second costliest Atlantic hurricane, surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
In response, the Society of Typographic Aficionados organized Font Aid VI: Aster Affects — a project uniting the typographic and design communities to raise funds for Red Cross relief efforts after the events of Hurricane Sandy. The project theme was represented in a typeface consisting entirely of asterisks and other star-inspired symbols.
Over 250 designers from 41 countries contributed glyphs to the project. Behind the scenes, volunteers Neil Summerour, Delve Withrington, and Grant Hutchinson compiled, assembled, and tested what would become the final typeface.
Why the asterisk?
An asterisk can denote something that requires attention — and an event of this magnitude and impact certainly deserves some attention. The asterisk can also provide *emphasis* to important information amidst fields of plain text. The root of the word comes from the Greek astēr or “star” — signifying hope and light. In computer terms, it’s a wildcard character … and hurricanes are certainly wild and unpredictable.
About the Contributors
Thanks to everyone who participated and helped us spread the word about the Font Aid VI: Aster Affects project. In particular, we would like to acknowledge the following individuals and groups for their participation and involvement.
Frank Adebiaye, Michael Adkins, Melissa Agostino, Marcus Leis Allion, Eleni Alpous, Ginny Barton Apostolides, Leonardo Aranda, Hector Carrillo Aspano, Dave Bailey, Peter Bain, Randa Baki, Alonso Banderas, Cynthia Bataille, Catherine Begle, Aaron Bell, Piero Bembo, David Berlow, Michael Bernstein, Henrik Birkvig, Michael Blair, Jack Blake, Victoria Boreing, Amir Brito, Eric Brown, Erin Brown, Peter Brugger, Caitlin Burns, Matthew Burvill, Neil Caldwell, Mark Caneso, Stella Carrera, Miguel Catopodis, Tyler E. Chaffee, Karen Charatan, Hung-Hao Chen, Todd Childers, Jordan Clark, Rob Clemens, Alex Coblentz, Jillian Coorey, Miles Courtney, Julie Craft, Péter Csatai, Jack Curry, Tim Daly, Jo De Baerdemaeker, Carolina de Bartolo, Mayene De Leon, Madonna Dersch, Ricardo De Sousa, Robbie de Villiers, Christopher J. Devine, Engy Elboreini, Craig Eliason, Andrea Emery, Mikael Engblom, Lily Feinberg, Carol Fillip, Jakob Fischer, Jeff Fisher, Arthur Reinders Folmer, Jim Ford, Lydia Forry, Eric Fowles, Wanny Freitas, Brock French, Viviana Garnica, Adam Ray Garrett, Dan Gayle, Greg Gazdowicz, David Glover, Marty Gotera, Jessica Graham, Richard Gregory, Renata Grieco, James Grieshaber, Patrick Griffin, Stefan Guzy, Christine Hall, Fernando Haro, Erin M. Harris, Chris Harrison, Stephen G. Hartke, F. Harvell, Logan Harvell, Gayle F. Hendricks, Paul Herring, Andrew Hicks, James Hollis, Gary Holmes, Jamie Homer, Ed Hoskin, Rian Hughes, Will Hum, Grant Hutchinson, Cole Imperi, Kashmira Irani, Ninalee Irani, Xerxes Irani, Miranda Jacobucci, Bartolomeu Jacq, Pouya Jahanshahi, Tina Jalayer, Caleb James, Thomas Jockin, Mira Tovo Jones & Kenneth Jones, T. K. Kanauss, Arno Kathollnig, Adam Katyi, Hajime Kawakami, Nellija Kazmercuka, Richard Kegler, Jeff Kellem, Ilona Kincses, Holly King, Sean King, Jason Kirkevold, Keith Kitz, Vasili Kochura, Katie Kocur, David M. Koeth, Caleb Kucera, Atushi Kunimune, Yunus Kurtuluş, Jennifer E. Kwong, Karolina Lach, Alyssa Lang, Jess Latham, Kelly Lawrence, Lily Lee, Leksen Design, Amy LeRue, Hongjian Li, Alan Lima, Wendy Lopez, Nikolas Lorencini, Chris Lozos, Curt Lund, John Lyttle, Oleg Macujev, Ellery Mann, Eduardo Manso, Sevag B. Martouni, Jess Massabrook, Isabelle Mattern, Julia Maw, Judith Mayer, Russell McGorman, Daniel McManus, Steve Mehallo, Martin Mendelsberg, Dawn Mercurio, Georgi Mihok, José Luis Coyotl Mixcoatl, Andrea Moklestad, Jesús Barrientos Mora, Sara Moshreff, Evan Moss, Joachim Müller-Lancé, Ben Naber, Cathia Nofziger, Juliana Nogueira, Andrew Novialdi, Novo Typo, Katie Obrecht, Shane O’Brien, Oguzhan Ocalan, Kieran O’Keeffe, Madison Oskam, Hrant H. Papazian, Brian Jongseong Park, Karen Parry, Mansi Patel, Neil S. Patel, Alejandro Paul, Thomas Phinney, Clint Pitts, Lynsey Power, Emily R. Powers, Wesley Prudencio, R. D. Roberts, Liam Roberts, Matt Roberts, Melanie M. Rodgers, Isac Correa Rodrigues, David Jonathan Ross, Miranda Roth, Christopher Rouleau, Dave Rowland, Dan Rubin, Dana Rudnitsky, Carol-Anne Ryce-Paul, Barbara Salvadori, Sana, Jeannie Sanders, Lawrence Sanders, Stuart Sandler, Riccardo Sartori, Danielle Sayer, Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer, Katrina Schmelter, Eva Christina Schroeder, Josh Scruggs, Seattle Pacific University Visual Communications Students, Benjamin K. Shown, Paulo Silva, Mark Simonson, Greg Smith, Ian W. Smith, Karishma Soni, Tanya Sprowl-Martelock, Shann Stephani, James Stirling, Jessica Strelioff, Sean Sullivan, Neil Summerour, Superfried, Gunnar Swanson, Lila Symons, Amondó Szegi, Lindsay Thompson, Erin Thornton, Andy Tindale, James Todd, Henry Tyminski, Matthew Tyndall, Herb van Brink, Mark van Bronkhorst, Joe VanDerBos, Karin van Soest, Marie-Anne Verougstraete, Abbie Vickress, Gilad Visotsky, Erik Vorhes, Thomas Voyles, James Walker, Brian Warren, Delia Jeanie Welch, Jürgen Weltin, Mariano Werneck, Greg Wertz, Karla Windsor, Delve Withrington, Daniel Wong, Jonathan Wood, Neil Woodyatt, Terry Wüdenbachs, Matt Yow, Matt Yu, Jayson Zaleski, Víctor Zúñiga
These contributors represent the following countries:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, México, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA, Wales
Spread the word!
We have prepared a series of Font Aid banners in several sizes for promoting this project. If you use one of these banners, all we ask is that you link back to the main Font Aid page. Thanks for your support.
Font Aid is a charitable endeavor. We wish to ensure that we provide the maximum support possible to the people and organization that need it. Any work submitted to a Font Aid project will be deemed a charitable gift and a work made for hire. Whenever possible, we are happy to credit the creativity of the participating designers.