A Font To Remind You What Refugees Really Are

There are lots of people fighting the frightening anti-refugee rhetoric being hurled around lately, but not many are doing so with fonts. And yet, behold: Common Sans, a font that autocorrects "refugee" to "human" when you try to type it. Odd? Perhaps, but also accurate.

The Common Sans font is the creation of design firm Essen International in partnership with Solvatten, a group that provides water treatment systems to communities in need. "We sat down to brainstorm around what to do for this year's Christmas project," Essen's creative director, Robert Holmkvist, told Creative Bloq. "After too many explorations of possible combinations of reds and sprinkles of white and compositions of satirical jingles, we decided we wanted to do something a little more meaningful instead and create a hint of awareness in an attempt to make the world a little better, at least one letter at a time."

So they decided to focus on bringing attention to an important issue.

"Being a refugee is a temporary status, being a human is permanent," the Common Sans website explains. "Humans are amazing. A stamp on their passport should not let us believe otherwise."

Currently in the United States, 30 governors have said they do not want refugees to enter their state (though their legal power to prevent that is dubious), and the political rhetoric against taking in refugees from Syria is only mounting. This, of course, is despite the fact that there is no evidence to suggest refugees pose any security threat to America, and the fact that the majority of Syrian refugees are women and young children.

Yet many people still see refugees as a potentially dangerous threat. And while politicians score points by trying to keep them out, the result is that real, live human beings fleeing from war will continue to suffer.

Which is why it's important to remember that when you go to type "refugee" ...

What you're really referring to is a person.

You can download the Common Sans font here.