Animal Farm x Monotype.
In response to Monotype's Brief in D&AD New Blood 2025, this is a type-led campain design against censorship using to new font technology.
George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ is a satire about totalitarian power, corruption, and propaganda. Because of its ideas, it has been banned in many countries. The censorship of this book not only hides the current state of political affairs but also takes away the ability to question the misuse of power.
Dialogue surrounding the type
The campaign reads ‘All Animals Are Equal’ in plain sight, but changes to ‘Some animals are more equal than others’, which encapsulates the change in narrative at the beginning and end of the book.
The subtle illustration in the background is a pig on two feet. Initially, the commandment in the book says, “four legs good, two legs bad’ which changes to, “four legs good, two legs better” towards the end, showcasing manipulation and propaganda.
New Font Technology
I have used the variable font technology in 'Gridlite PE variable', where the typeface is created by stacking basic shapes together. It is a monospace looking font where attributes like weight, background, rectangle and shape are variable.
Weight
This attribute varies of the weight of the elements in the Text area.
Background
The thickness of the elements in the Kerning are variable.
Rectangle
The elements in the text Bounding Box area is variable.
Shape
The Visual Elements that are stacked to form the font can be changed.
Media/ Carriers
The campaign will be showcased on three different platforms- Augmented Reality posters, Guerilla projection and Social media platforms.
Augmented Reality (AR) - The poster displays the propoganda statement in plain sight, and reveals censored text only through the lens after being scanned using the phone. The platform I've used to support my AR animation is Artivive.
Social media platforms- Drawing from the idea of 'sharing' books, the text can be shared using as an Interactive message. The emoji slider feature of Instagram stories acts as a variable type axis.
Artivive also lets users to record the AR posters as it is being scanned, which can be shared in posts and stories.
Guerilla projection- the type is projected onto Parliaments and other buildings, where the authorities misuse their power to restrict the freedom of speech and expression.
Process
Initially, I had to make a keyframe animation to visualize the campaign due to lack of software support for new font technology. Right now, Adobe AfterEffects's latest 2026 update supports variable font animation.
