Women have been fighting for suffrage for more than seven decades. The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was established in 1890, and became the most mainstream and vocal organization of the United States to push for the national suffrage movement. Elizabeth Cady Stanton became the first president of NAWSA and resigned in 1892 at the age of 77. Her resignation speech “The Solitude of Self” beautifully illustrates the philosophical premise of gender equality, and eloquently presents a classic argument for why women need to be enfranchised by a Sixteenth Amendment.
Solitude of Self is based on this speech. I act as both the editor and meaning maker of the book. The design is inspired by newspapers in 19th and 20th century, thus attempts to give a journalistic presentation of an old but still relevant message to the modern audience—classical yet modern, just like the chosen identity typeface, Ogg (Sharp Type). Ogg’s elegant and outstretching Italic is interspersed with the Regular style, suggesting breakthroughs and a sense of non-conformity. The text of the speech is set in Graphik (Commercial Type), lending simplicity and cleanness as a counterbalance.
The book also includes secondary texts such as captions, facts, and timelines (in the monospaced Courier New) to assist for a better comprehension of the speech.