The United States is home to some 18,000,000 abandoned units of housing and counting. Clustered in the Rust Belt's dying city centers and tiny ghost towns dotted about the rural West, these harrowed buildings recall the darkest parts of our past. The late 1800s and early 1900s were a time of unparalleled excess, expansion, exploitation, and exclusion; we chased resources to the ends of the earth and left in our wake a trail of waste and destruction.
These places haven't been inhabited in decades. They've receded from our memory, left to fight off nature's relentless reclamation efforts. But they represent a important chapter of our past from which we could learn some important ecological and economic lessons.
Afognak (pronounced uh-FOG-knack) is a slab serif inspired by the mechanistic type of the early 20th century — but it's been left to decay, too. Its legs lean, its foundations sag, its crossbars dangle and its serifs hang on for dear life.
Afognak was a village on an island of the same name in southern Alaska. It was occupied by the Alutiiq people for thousands of years before it was colonized by Russian and then American forces in the 18th and 19th centuries. Gradually, Alutiiq culture and governance on the island was molded to its western colonizers.
The village was destroyed by the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964, although a few residents remained in the area for many years afterward.
Afognak contains uppercase and lowercase letters, numerals, and basic punctuation (so far). It comes in two weights (so far): heavy and threadbare. One can barely withstand its own weight; the other can barely hold itself up.
GHOST TOWN PASSPORT
The ghost town passport is a pocket-sized booklet full of photos and history of America's 3,000+ abandoned towns. Enthusiasts can trek the country, using QR codes in the booklet for precise directions, and stamp their passports for every ghost town they visit. Afognak is used both for headings and body copy.
The ghost town passport is a pocket-sized booklet full of photos and history of America's 3,000+ abandoned towns. Enthusiasts can trek the country, using QR codes in the booklet for precise directions, and stamp their passports for every ghost town they visit. Afognak is used both for headings and body copy.
