I just finished the final edit on my essay “Betti Broadwater Haft: ‘Letterforms Are Sacred to Me,’” included in the upcoming (Fall 2021) Princeton Architectural Press book Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History. It’s Haft’s hand pictured above, holding examples from her portfolio.
Here’s the essay opening:
I came to know Betti Haft through the Photo-Lettering One Line Manual of Styles which appeared in the trove of books and supplies my father-in-law gifted me upon retiring from his career as an ad agency art director.
The Manual is a mind-boggling compendium: 470 pages, 18 samples per page. I’d looked through it often, but during 2018’s summer break, the list of 252 designers showcased in the volume made me stop short. Sprinkled in with the likes of Milton Glaser and Bradbury Thompson were the names of just 12 women.
I decided to try and find them. Several had died before I began my search. One I couldn’t locate. I wrote two with an invitation to talk. Betti called me back.
Since then, we’ve had several rich conversations about her typeface, life, and design. Betti is witty, precise, and eloquent, an elegant amalgam of the European, Southern, and Northeastern US influences that shaped her.
update: Betti passed away on August 1, 2021. We’d spoken on the phone several days earlier. She’d been having health issues but sounded upbeat and excited to see the finished book. Getting to know Betti was very special and unexpected. I will miss her …