Tré Seals
Tré Seals | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1993 (age 31–32) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Stevenson University |
| Known for | Type designer, creative director, graphic designer |
Tré Seals (born 1993) is an American type designer, creative director, and typographer based in Accokeek, Maryland.[1][2] He is best known as the designer behind Vocal Type, a type foundry that develops fonts inspired by minority cultures and international protest movements.[3] Seals is one of the only few African-American type designers in the world.[4][5]
Early life and education
Seals’ parents ran a soil manufacturing business on a family farm outside of Washington, D.C.[6] He graduated from Stevenson University with a degree in visual communication design.[4][2]
Seals is a two-time childhood brain tumor survivor and credits his experiences with debilitating headaches early in life as a key motivation to pursue a career in art and design.[7][8]
Career
After initially getting his start as a freelance graphic designer and working for a staffing agency The Creative Group for a year and a half after graduating college, Seals established a brand studio called Seals and a type foundry Vocal Type.[1][9]
Vocal Type's first and most popular release,[6] VTC Martin, named after Martin Luther King Jr.,[10][11] was directly inspired by the “I Am a Man” posters first used during the Memphis Sanitation Strike in 1968.[12] After the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, VTC Martin became a popular choice for signs, exhibitions, and murals connected with the movement, including the Black Lives Matter mural in Newark, New Jersey.[10][11][13][3][14] Other typefaces released by Vocal Type reference graphics used in W. E. B. Du Bois data visualizations,[15] 1989 Tiananmen Square protests,[16] women's suffrage movement, 1963 March On Washington For Jobs and Freedom, and WWII anti-fascist Resistance flyers.[17][18][19]
Seals’ other notable works include logotype for Stacey Abrams’s 2022 campaign for the governor of Georgia[20] and design for Spike, a 2021 book about Spike Lee.[14][21] He has also consulted on typography for Colin Kaepernick and the TIME magazine.[22] He authored and designed a 2022 book Dream In Color: 30 Posters of Power by 30 Black Creatives.[23]
Awards and achievements
Seals is a winner of the ADC Young Guns 17 competition awarded by Art Directors Club.[2] In 2021 he was named one of recipients of the Brooklyn Museum's inaugural Black Design Visionaries grant program awarded in partnership with Meta’s Instagram.[24] He was also recognized as one of top designers under the age of 35 elevating the medium of typography by Type Directors Club in the Ascenders competition of 2018.[25] A solo exhibit of his work titled "Characters: Type in Action" was held at The Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) in 2024–2025.[5][26]
References
- ^ a b Kaminer, Michael. "Worldwise: Type Designer Tre Seals' Favorite Things". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ a b c "Young Guns 17: Tré Seals". www.oneclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ a b "Typography is the root of graphic design – we should use it to be vocal". www.itsnicethat.com. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ a b "This Black Type Designer Wants to Help You Discover the World Beyond Helvetica - Washingtonian". 2023-01-17. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ a b Washington, Noah (2024-12-30). "The Power of Typography: Activism Meets Design at MODA". The Atlanta Voice. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
- ^ a b Beach, Charlotte (2022-01-31). "In Conversation With Tré Seals—The Type Designer Diversifying The Future of Design By Looking To the Past". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ "Vocal Type Design". Communication Arts. 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
- ^ Tidwell, Kim (2024-02-27). "What Matters to Tré Seals". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
- ^ "Tré Seals – Freelance Collective". Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ a b "VTC Martin in use". Fonts In Use. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ a b Storozynsky, Tara. "Being Vocal: How Tré Seals Is Changing The Conversation Around Typography". www.extensis.com. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ "MARTIN". Vocal Type. 2019-07-18. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ "News: Public art takes to streets to protest white supremacy and proclaim "All Black Lives Matter"". www.newarknj.gov. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ a b Budds, Diana (2021-10-13). "Meet the Designer Making Custom Fonts for Spike Lee". Curbed. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
- ^ "The Typography of W. E. B. Du Bois | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum". www.cooperhewitt.org. 2023-02-23. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
- ^ "This serif typeface honors Tiananmen Square protestors". Fast Company. 2023-09-12. Archived from the original on 2023-09-16. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
- ^ "GARIBALDI". Vocal Type. 2023-04-25. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ "FONTS FOR HEADINGS: VOCAL TYPE · EXPLORING DIVERSITY - What difference does a FONT make? · Duke University Library Exhibits". exhibits.library.duke.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ "Tré Seals - The Portland Stamp Company | Artist Series No. 30". The Portland Stamp Company. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ "Stacey Abrams". Vocal Type. 2023-01-09. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ Heller, Steven (2021-10-28). "The Daily Heller: Tré Seals Makes Book on Spike Lee's Life and Films". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ "Tré Seals". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
- ^ Beach, Charlotte (2022-02-10). "Type Designer Tré Seals Announces His First-Ever Book, 'Dream in Color'". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
- ^ Beach, Charlotte (2021-11-03). "Instagram's @design and Brooklyn Museum Launch Inaugural #BlackDesignVisionaries Grant Program". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ "Ascenders 2018 | Tre Seals". www.oneclub.org. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ "Characters: Type in Action". MODA. Retrieved 2025-07-05.