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misappropriation?
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stereotypography Cultural appropriation occurs when a dominant group copies ideas from a
culture that has been historically oppressed and marginalized. This is considered exploitative or degrading when the borrower hasn’t conducted meaningful research or collaborated with or honored that group. We purchased this illustration from a stock image service. The word Zumba refers to an exercise program invented by a Colombian, which in turn references a Spanish dance called “rhumba.” Several tags describing the alphabet allow potential buyers to find it, including “African Tribal Font,” “Folk Scandinavian Script,” and “Ethnic Alphabet.” These marketing tags enforce stereotypes about cultures that are marginalized as “tribal,” “folk,” or “ethnic.”
campaigns for clients? Always ask your supervisor before sharing this work on your own portfolio site. Sometimes, the client may not want the work to be shown publicly or the studio may have guidelines for how to share (or not share) credit. In a packaging project, for example, a design firm might develop many different direc- tions; a client may not want every one of those ideas circulating on the internet.
If you are an art director with the priv- ilege of commissioning outside talent, consider how you want to credit your col- laborators, from interns to illustrators. Why not err on the side of generosity? Naming
TYPEFACE | ZUMBA | BY EKATERINA BURTSEVA
your people shines light on your enterprise. When you have the opportunity to com- mission creative work, seek out illustra- tors, photographers, writers, musicians, and others from underrepresented groups and commission content that celebrates the diversity of human experience in an authentic way.
SOURCES Eric Schrijver, Copy This Book: An Artist’s Guide to Copyright (Eindhoven, NL: Onomatopee, 2019); Anoushka Khandwala, “What Does It Mean to Decolonize Design? Dismantling Design History 101,” AIGA Eye on Design, Jun
5, 2019 >eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-does-it-mean-to- decolonize-design/; Rachel Berger, “The Death of Design Portfolios,” Modus, Aug 26, 2019 >modus.medium.com/ the-death-of-design-portfolios-218bcbc11080.