Lagniappe: A Louisiana French-Inspired Display Typeface
- ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Katie Randall (Creator)
- Institution
- Appalachian State University (ASU )
- Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
- Advisor
- Stephen Parks
Abstract: This thesis celebrates the history and culture of my hometown, Lafayette, Louisiana. Lagniappe is a typeface inspired by letterforms found in Lafayette newspapers from the late 1800s-early 1900s, a time marked by the stigmatization of French and the discrimination of francophone people in Louisiana. After doing broad historical research on the area and specifically learning about the history of the French language and culture in Lafayette, I utilized public digital archives to search for unique examples of typography from historical newspapers. During this exploration, I was drawn to one typeface found throughout decades of clippings of the Lafayette Gazette. The main goal was to preserve the unique characteristics of the letterforms while adapting them for contemporary usage. I experimented with a variety of letterforms and refined them into a consistent system. French accents were added to the character set so that the typeface could be used in both English and French. Finally, BirdFont was used to make Lagniappe functional. The typeface was documented using both English and Louisiana French text. Lagniappe symbolizes the resilience and evolution of the French language, contributes to the revival of the language in this area, and preserves Louisiana’s cultural and linguistic heritage.
Lagniappe: A Louisiana French-Inspired Display Typeface
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Created on 5/29/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Honors Project
- Randall, K. (2024). Lagniappe: A Louisiana French-Inspired Display Typeface. Unpublished Honors Thesis. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- Font, French, Letterforms, Louisiana, Newspapers, Typeface