THE POLITE TYPE

TitleTHE POLITE TYPE
BrandTIETOEVRY
Product/ServiceIT SERVICES
Category D02. Innovative Use of Technology
Entrant TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Idea Creation TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
PR TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Production TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
Production 2 GREAT APES Helsinki, FINLAND
Production 3 TMI MELVAS TYPE DESIGN Vantaa, FINLAND
Additional Company THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH FOUNDATION Helsinki, FINLAND
Credits
Name Company Position
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

Describe the creative idea

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

The font and its source code were made freely downloadable on the campaign website. The download kit contained easy-to-use instructions for installing the font. All material was produced in a way that would encourage participation and invite anyone interested in the project to join in developing the Polite Type further. Apart from a small social media and influencer campaign in Finland, The Polite Type was launched as a PR initiative in August 2020. A week of PR pushes kick started the campaign that has since spread through earned and social media. We were also able to scale the project up by cooperating with HEI Schools who have schools around the world. In addition to that, new NGO partner Friends Sweden is joining the project to take it even further. The relevance for TietoEVRY is clear. An IT company whose vision is to create a brighter future together is creating a system that makes online platforms safer and more polite to everyone. The beauty of the selected technology that we used is that it is easy to scale up. The font is a built-in tool for all online platforms being built and used. The font’s visual language was designed so that it works in various digital environments, both in a small and large size, in apps as well as on social media platforms. The visual language also adapts to other languages, writing systems and glyphs, for example Chinese characters. The design and functionality were validated in multi-cultural focus groups in Europe and the US.