VTC Tatsuro
A display typeface inspired by the hand-lettered 'I AM AN AMERICAN' sign commissioned by Tatsuro Matsuda on his Oakland grocery store the day after Pearl Harbor, before his family were forcibly interned under Executive Order 9066.
About
Vocal Type draws directly from the vernacular lettering of a 1941 storefront sign, immortalised in Dorothea Lange's iconic photograph of Japanese American internment. The typeface carries the historical weight of that moment, connecting display typography to one of the most documented injustices of wartime America. Vocal Type's practice of grounding typefaces in marginalised histories gives VTC Tatsuro a specificity and purpose that purely formal display faces rarely achieve.
Classification
Inspired by hand-lettered signage from a 1941 photograph, VTC Tatsuro draws from vernacular display lettering of the early 1940s, placing it firmly in the display category with a historical, hand-crafted character.