Redaction
MCKL · Jeremy Mickel · 2019
A commissioned typeface for a MoMA PS1 art-legal collaboration, built on US courtroom typography and progressively degraded across seven bitmap optical grades.
About
Designed by Jeremy Mickel for Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts' 'The Redaction' project at MoMA PS1, the family responds to the unconstitutional cash bail system by drawing on Times New Roman and Century Schoolbook. Seven optical grades from crisp text to heavily pixelated bitmap simulate the degradation of documents through the legal system, each available in Regular, Italic and Bold. The fonts are free for personal use, with the full 21-style family available for commercial licensing.
Classification
Redaction draws directly from US legal typography traditions, citing Times New Roman and Century Schoolbook as references, placing it firmly in the transitional serif category. The bitmap optical grades add a degraded quality distinct from either source, but the underlying structure remains transitional.