Hystérique
Description
Hystérique is a variable font designed to embody the reality of people using hormonal contraception and its side effects. With three masters (named "Basique" - base, "Épineuse" - spiky, and "Maussade" - spleen) that have very distinctive shapes, the interpolation allows for a myriad of results on different ends of the readability spectrum. The goal was to use the seeming randomness of the variation to represent the intrusive and irregular nature of side effects (and to better represent the diversity of experiences of people using hormonal contraception). Basique is the default, desired state of being. Épineuse is the pain and the anger born out of injustice. Maussade is the depression and anguish, very common side effects of numerous contraception methods.
Glyphs from the QUNI inclusive glyph system (developped by the French-Belgian collective Bye Bye Binary) were added to the font; as French speakers working on reproductive health topics, we wanted to avoid the typical gendered pitfalls of the subject matter and reaffirm that it's not only women who have ovaries!
The font we named Hystérique is then presented through a RISO-printed zine that doubles as an alphabet book and a poster. Every letter in the book introduces a term (and a text fragment) that relates to contraceptive justice, gynecological violence and overall systemic misogyny in the medical field.
The whole project has been completed over the course of four months. The font is now available through an Open source licensing format for activist/non-profit projects, and its masters are available to everyone who seeks them. Born out of the struggle for better reproductive health, our future goal for Hystérique is to use it to amplify the voices of other marginalised communities.
