| Title | THE POLITE TYPE |
| Brand | TIETOEVRY |
| Product/Service | IT SERVICES |
| Category |
C01. Digital & Interactive Design |
|
Entrant
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TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
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Idea Creation
|
TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
|
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PR
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TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
|
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Production
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TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
|
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Production 2
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GREAT APES Helsinki, FINLAND
|
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Production 3
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TMI MELVAS TYPE DESIGN Vantaa, FINLAND
|
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Additional Company
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THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH FOUNDATION Helsinki, FINLAND
|
Credits
| Jyrki Poutanen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Chief Creative Officer |
| Mikko Pietilä |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Executive Creative Director |
| Virpi Grönlund |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Client Service Director |
| Markus Nieminen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Creative Director |
| Juhana Hokkanen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Innovation Director |
| Joona Stedt |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Account Manager |
| Simone Bocedi |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Senior Content Strategist |
| Fredrik Stürmer |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Art Director |
| Maria Kuorikoski |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Senior Creative |
| Antti Halme |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Senior Creative |
| Iida Sarpaniemi |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Graphic Designer |
| Atso Wilén |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Graphic Designer |
| Henrik Storsjö |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Video Editor |
| Paula Sonne |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Communications Strategist |
| Saana Simander |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Junior Communications Specialist |
| Sara Pitzén |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Junior Communications Specialist |
| Katariina Ollari |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Content Producer |
| Eemeli Tani |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Performance & Analytics Manager |
| Juho Ojala |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Planner |
| Lisa Myllymäki |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Director |
| Tuukka Tikkanen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Producer |
| Anton Tevajärvi |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Director Of Photography |
| Aki Karppinen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Gaffer |
| Mikko Kuoppasalmi |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Editor |
| Anssi Mahlamäki |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Motion Designer |
| Ville-Matti Koskiniemi |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Sound Design |
| Petri Falkenberg |
Grade One |
Post Production |
| Aino Heiniö |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Costume Design |
| Donna Maimon |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Casting |
| Fanny Haga |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Photographer |
| Jonna Yletyinen |
TBWA\Helsinki |
Still Producer |
| Mika Melvas |
TMI Melvas Type Design |
Typeface Designer |
| Jonna Louvrier |
External Consultant |
Diversity and Inclusion Advisor |
| Michaela Moua |
External Consultant |
Diversity and Inclusion Advisor |
| Sara Salmani |
External Consultant, Inklusiiv |
Diversity and Inclusion Advisor |
| Anaka Kobzev |
TBWA Worldwide |
Global Head of Corporate Communications |
| Melissa Gotleib |
TBWA Worldwide |
Global Communications Associate |
| Doug Melville |
TBWA Worldwide |
Chief Diversity Officer, North America |
| Kia Haring |
TietoEVRY |
Head of Communications and Sustainablity |
| Hanne Haapoja |
TietoEVRY |
Head of Group Customer Insight |
| Mari Tuokko |
TietoEVRY |
Communications Lead, Finland |
| Reija Sihlman |
TietoEVRY |
Head of PR and Issues Management |
| Nelli Melin |
TietoEVRY |
Digital Content Manager |
| Annika Uusikari |
TietoEVRY |
Content Creator |
Background
As an IT company driven by Nordic values, TietoEVRY wanted to enter the public discussion on the downsides and possibilities of technology by proposing a solution for addressing cyberbullying.
Drawing from the company’s purpose of enabling a brighter future and an existing partnership with The Children and Youth Foundation, we created The Polite Type: an open-source font that promotes better online language use and empathy.
The project aimed to create a platform for public dialogue on digital responsibility with key decision-makers and public sector customers, while bringing in young people as active participants in tackling discriminatory language, before it happens, through a positive change in attitudes
The main KPIs outlined by the client were media coverage, reach and awareness, audience growth, engagement, conversion rate and referral traffic.
Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)
The Polite Type is a font that recognises and rewrites hate speech. By launching a self-moderating font, TietoEVRY wanted to create discussion about toxic online culture and cyberbullying, the social responsibility of tech companies in solving these issues and innovative ways companies could use tech to foster empathy online.
Together with The Children and Youth Foundation and diversity and inclusion experts, we identified offensive language related to online bullying and created a word library where each word was given a more inclusive alternative or blocked altogether. This word library was then coded into an Open Type font file, creating a custom font that gives its users direct feedback on their language use.
The Polite Type is a font that can be used on any platform. All the functionalities are incorporated inside the font itself, so no applications, keyboards or such have to be installed.
Describe the execution (40% of vote)
A custom typeface was created for The Polite Type. Through the design, we wanted to communicate a visually positive and progressive feel. The font design contains ink traps to a distinguished look that helps set it apart from other fonts. It was created through a collaboration of teenagers affected by cyberbullying, experts on inclusion, linguists and a typeface designer.
The word substitution functionality uses the ligature substitution functionality of the Opentype -syntax. This functionality was originally made to make Arabic words writable by combining letters and for example the “fi” letter combination to look good with a substituted ligature. We basically used a functionality that was created to make typography more beautiful to make the actual language more beautiful.
The font gives users direct feedback on their language use, nudging them towards more empathetic behaviour in their online interactions.
List the results (20% of vote)
The campaign’s launch generated 637 earned media impressions, 221 of which were news articles. The campaign’s overall reach was 900,598,598, corresponding to an EAV of 8,497,769.31€, indicative of high quality media hits.
Since August 2020, the font has been tested on the website 27,467 times and installed by 3,367 users in over 100 countries.
90,5% of all website traffic and 94,2% font downloads resulted from earned media content. 51% of site visitors tested the font. 6% of all site visitors and 12% of those who tested the font installed it. Potential developers and global vendor partners have expressed interest towards The Polite Type.
An international school network now uses the font in its schools. There has been interest from new governmental and NGO partners in creating new language versions of the font, with a German language version confirmed.