Common Sans: the humanitarian typeface made for humans, not refugees

Founded on the premise that “being a refugee is a temporary status, being a human is permanent,” Common Sans is a typographic answer to the ongoing global migrant crisis.

Designed by Swedish design firm Essen International and Solvatten, Common Sans scans all digital text and automatically replaces the word “refugee” with the word “human.” 

“Humans are amazing. A stamp on their passport should not let us believe otherwise. Rewrite, retype, rethink” note the designers Denisse Ariana Perez, Linnea Friberg, Maximilian George, Robert Holmkvist, Rasmus Löwenbrååt & Sara Svensson.

“We decided to design a reminder that this is not a refugee crisis, but a human crisis,” said the creators in the video below.

Four years since Europe's biggest humanitarian crisis this year's World Refugee Day is a reminder that the world still struggles to find solutions for those in need. 

70 million people in total are displaced from their homes, double the number from twenty years ago according to the UNHCR. The UN blames the issue on persistent conflict, wars and persecution.

“It's a fundamentally important day, because we should all be aware that there are now more than 70 million refugees and internally displaced people across the world,” said Jan Egeland, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian refugee council.

“We haven't had such numbers since the Second World War, it's a wake-up call for leaders across the world. International diplomacy is failing these people, there's no effective conflict resolution, and more importantly, there is no way out from this, for many of the people who flee.... There's a notion in Europe that we are overrun by refugees. Reality couldn't be further away from that. Most European countries do not take either refugees or internally displaced people. Number two, Europe is not giving that much support either, to those who do receive assistance. Europe is neither giving protection in Europe, nor giving enough in supporting countries which give protection.”

To mark the day, the UN is organising walks worldwide as part of a campaign called #StepWithRefugees.

This kind typographic reminder that we are all humans -by default, is available to download for free here.

As noted by the creators of this humanitarian typeface a donation to UNHCR, The Red Cross and Solvatten to support the project is essential.