Typography as a tool in totalitarian oppression
Fonts, formatting and layout are important elements of visual communication. But typography can also be used as a political tool. In Nicolae Ceaușescu’s Romania, it was used to strengthen state control and create an illusion of substance and legitimacy.
Arina Stoenescu is a lecturer in media technology at Södertörn University and a doctoral student in book history at Lund University. She presented her research on the interplay between typography and politics at a seminar in December 2025. Stoenescu arrived in Sweden as a political refugee with her family in 1987, and has researched the development of typography in Romania from the 16th century until the fall of the dictatorship in 1989.
Her interest in the subject was sparked after moving to Sweden. When she started reading Swedish newspapers, she found them to be more literary than those in Romania – despite not yet having fully mastered the language.
“Eventually, I realised that the literary impression was not due to the language, but to the typography. Swedish newspapers used serif fonts – which have ‘feet’ – while Romanian newspapers largely did not, they used sans serif fonts. This sparked my interest in the materiality of texts – their physical and visual form.”
From diversity to conformity
Early Romanian typography was relatively diverse, because technical limitations made standardisation difficult. This changed during Ceaușescu’s regime, when typographical standardisation became a means of reinforcing ideological homogeneity. Printing houses were nationalised and, in some cases, typographers were imprisoned for political reasons. The school system was also under state control.
Typographical hierarchies, the differences between headlines, body text and captions, were used to create a veneer of journalistic depth, although in practice the content was extremely restricted.
“The front pages appeared to have lots of news, but in reality it was all about Ceaușescu. Swedish daily newspapers could have 17–18 real articles on their front pages, compared to three in Romanian newspapers. Despite this, Romanian newspapers would have more differentiated typography, giving the illusion of rich and varied contents.”
In reporting about Ceaușescu’s lengthy speeches, this was used to reinforce the cult of personality. “Loud applause” would be in bold type, while “loud applause continued while standing” could be highlighted through letter spacing.
Typography and contemporary politics
Although the role of the printed word has changed with the advent of digital media, Stoenescu believes that typography still plays an important political role.
“Every typeface carries a cultural history. They can both deepen our understanding of a period and act as testimony to it.”
SMS – Södertörn Media Archaeological Collection
Stoenescu’s seminar was held as part of a seminar series organised through the Södertörn Media Archaeological Collection (SMS). SMS is an environment for the creative exploration of historical media technologies, run by Media and Communication Studies. It has everything from the early Macintosh computers that sparked the desktop publishing revolution to push button telephones, typewriters and document collectors.
SMS is in MC317 and is open to students and researchers on Tuesdays from 10.00 to 12.00. If you want to book a visit or have old media gadgets you wish to donate, please email sms@sh.se.
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- 2026-02-16
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