ADLaM Display: An Alphabet to Preserve a Culture

Read the campaign story

Ibrahima and Abdoulaye Barry created ADLaM long before the 2023 campaign. Microsoft and McCann’s work supported that community-led effort through ADLaM Display, a new typographic resource. Microsoft credits designers Neil Patel, Mark Jamra and Andrew Footit for the display font. The project connected cultural storytelling with something people could actually use to write and publish, rather than leaving recognition at the level of a celebratory advertisement.

Contemporary coverage dates the new display-font announcement to April 2023. Microsoft’s story page has an earlier 2022 date but contains a later section describing the 2023 resource. Those layers should not be collapsed into one origin event. The alphabet, its community teaching and earlier digital encoding predate this launch. This case therefore examines a particular contribution to an existing effort, not a corporation’s invention or rescue of an entire culture.

Editorial interpretation: the most valuable brand role is enabling circulation. A beautiful alphabet shown in a campaign remains an object of observation unless people can use it in their own messages. Distribution, software compatibility and useful learning resources can turn admiration into practical access. The communication then has a specific proof point: it helps explain a resource that exists independently of the audience’s willingness to share the advertisement.

Editorial interpretation: cultural legitimacy comes from authorship and participation, not simply a brand’s platform size. The brothers, teachers and users are central to the history and future of the script. An outside organisation can contribute design or technology while leaving cultural authority with the community. That requires accurate credit, consultation and an account of what the project does not settle, including educational access, long-term maintenance and differing needs among users.

Begin with the work already happening

Map existing creators, maintainers and teaching efforts before defining a brand intervention. Ask what is missing and who has authority to make design decisions. Do not frame a community as inactive until a sponsor arrives. A useful brief identifies the specific contribution the organisation can make and the expertise it must obtain, compensate and acknowledge to make that contribution responsibly.

Treat usability as part of the creative deliverable

Test the resource in the contexts where people actually write, share and read. Check rendering, input methods, accessible documentation and licensing rather than assuming that a downloadable file means adoption is easy. Provide a clear route for reporting problems. A visually distinctive artefact can attract attention, but reliable use is what allows it to support communication after the campaign ends.

Avoid outcome language that erases complexity

Separate distribution from active use, and active use from literacy or cultural continuity. A device-compatible font is not evidence that every potential user has access to a device or learning support. If reporting progress, state the measurement and who supplied it. Credit community achievements on their own terms instead of absorbing them into an inflated claim of brand impact.

A small test for another brief

Proposed test: a cultural organisation could support one community-requested digital publishing resource, then evaluate whether contributors can use it without ongoing assistance from the production team.

Compare successful completion, rendering problems and support needs before and after the resource. Ask contributors whether the representation and credits feel accurate. Do not infer language preservation from download counts.

Stop if community authorship is obscured, permissions are uncertain or the tool fails in common use. Do not call an incremental resource the invention of a pre-existing language or script.

• Agree scope, ownership and attribution with community representatives and practitioners.
• Prototype a small resource with clear permission terms and accessible instructions.
• Ask paid users to complete realistic publishing tasks on their existing devices.