Allkin: A Universal Symbol System for Peace
See how the language of peace found its visual voice.
The symbol is the action is the symbol.
Introduction
In Peace and Conflict, the latest chapter of our Re:Vision report, we began with a question: what role can creatives play as conflict continues to escalate across the globe?
Most of us are far from war zones. We’re not living with the daily consequences of violence, yet it’s hard not to feel the urge to respond — to acknowledge what’s happening, to show solidarity, to resist indifference. Whether those gestures matter is an open question.
This microsite brings together two small, practice-led explorations by creatives led by Phil Garnham, Executive Creative Type Director and the Monotype Studio, and developed in collaboration with Rathna Ramanathan, Provost of Central Saint Martins and Executive Dean of Global Affairs at UAL, alongside VikaVita — a Kyiv-based, two-woman lettering and design studio working on the ground in Ukraine.
They aren’t answers. They don’t pretend to be. They’re gestures — quiet attempts to see whether symbols, used with care and shared collectively, might create space for dialogue rather than deepen division.
Imagine a world where symbols transcend language, fostering understanding and reconciliation across cultures. Between 2021 and 2024 we saw a sharp rise in global conflict zones — the highest number of state-armed conflicts in over seventy years. This alarming trend reflects a divided global society and underscores the urgent need for more meaningful geopolitical dialogue.
For the creative community, the message is clear: our affiliations, clients, or politics can never outweigh our shared humanity.
Rathna Ramanathan wrote and co-directed Allkin. She became a trusted mentor to the Monotype Studio team throughout the project, helping us navigate complex geopolitical themes with care and design rigor.
Rathna Ramanathan
Provost of Central Saint Martins and Executive Dean of Global Affairs, UAL
Provost of Central Saint Martins and Executive Dean of Global Affairs, UAL
Originally from Chennai, India, Rathna works in communication design, particularly within a South Asian context. Her practice is fuelled by a love for, and lifelong interest in typography and languages, and a belief that communication is a fundamental human right.
Meet Allkin
Allkin is a free, open-source hand-based symbol language, available as artwork via The Noun Project and as a font via Google Fonts and Monotype Fonts. Allkin means all human connection.
Me, you, us, together.
Medicine for a glimmer of hope.
Clean air, basic hygiene, and places to sleep – not luxuries, but rights.
The system includes 195 hand gestures, a symbolic match to the number of UN member and observer states. Symbols are organized around fundamental needs, social signals, emotional states, and indicators of conflict and peace. They’re designed to be combined, adapted, and interpreted — not fixed or final.
Creating a shared symbol system is inherently risky. A gesture can mean different things in different cultures. Allkin doesn’t try to erase that complexity. It embraces it.
This is an invitation, not a prescription.
Use it thoughtfully. Question it. Contribute to it.
A Symbol for Peace
Human beings instinctively attach meaning to symbols — icons that capture an experience. Conflict zones are no different: the press vest, the blue UN helmet — shorthand for neutrality and protection.
Monotype creatives Damien Collot, Anna Damoli, Laurène Girbal, and Spike Spondike explored how signs might embody peace, hope, and unity — qualities brands also pursue in building trust and loyalty. Their response: a symbol of intention. Two interlocking hands, conceptually bound in cooperation and solidarity, evoking reconciliation. Each hand supports the other — a perpetual reminder that peace is sustained through mutual care.
The message is clear. This symbol is a stand against conflict. A signal to the world: I will not engage in violence. Whatever the situation, it declares: I stand for peace and resolution through collaboration.
Image:
Allkin, a symbol to convey peaceful intent and a sign of unity.
A Universal Language for Conflict Navigation
Design is nothing without purpose. A logo is nothing without substance. If design can drive business outcomes, it can also drive peaceful ones. Our focus became clear:
1
Promote Reconciliation: Create symbols that embody peace and dialogue over aggression.
2
Facilitate Expression: Give those in conflict a visual system to share needs, experiences, and aspirations.
3
Connect Communities: Bridge war-torn regions and stable ones, fostering empathy and understanding.
4
Preserve Identity: Respect culture and heritage while offering a universal, neutral form of expression.
Image:
Allkin campaign on the ground in Kyiv, Ukraine by VikaVita.
In Practice
Over the past year, Monotype Studio creatives have collaborated with VikaVita — the twin-sister post-punk calligraphy duo working in Ukraine.
They are now using Allkin on the ground in Kyiv — not as a statement, but as a practical graphic tool for communication where clarity and care matter most.
Image:
VikaVita’s posters use Allkin to reinforce peaceful messages.
Open by Design
Allkin is open source by intent.
Through partnerships with The Noun Project and Google Fonts, it’s free for creatives everywhere to use, adapt, and expand. A shared canvas for exploring how symbols, typography, and gesture-like forms can encourage empathy and understanding across cultures.
About The Noun Project
We’ve also partnered with The Noun Project, a mission-driven organization that hosts and distributes stock images and icons that showcase diversity, equality, and a progressive view of society. The Noun Project promotes designers and photographers from all races, backgrounds, and regions to “build a global visual language that unites us.”
“We believe visual language has the power to change the world.”
Noun Project
Our connected society gives power to symbols, power that transcends borders and language, and, in turn, grants influence to creatives seeking to leave this world better than they found it. You, reader, have that power in your hands. What will you do with it?
Image:
Image:
Monotype partners with Google Fonts
About Google Fonts
We’ve also partnered with Google to bring Allkin to the world, an open-source type family designed as a shared canvas for peace. Released on Google Fonts, Allkin is free for creatives everywhere to use, adapt, and expand — inviting designers to explore how typography, symbols, and gesture-like forms can promote empathy and understanding across cultures.
“Allkin is an open invitation to co-create a visual language for peace.”
In a connected society, fonts are more than tools of expression; they’re quiet infrastructures that shape how ideas travel. By opening Allkin to global contribution, Monotype and Google are testing how a living type system might help bridge borders, support inclusion, and amplify voices working toward a more peaceful future. The next evolution of Allkin is in your hands. What will you build with it?
A Small Gesture
Let’s be honest — Allkin shouldn’t have to exist. But it does, because conflict does.
These projects won’t change geopolitics. They weren’t designed to. They exist as acts of participation — ways for creatives to respond using the skills they have.
If even one exchange moves toward dialogue, the gesture has meaning.
What happens next is up to you.
Download Allkin on Google Fonts
Explore Allkin on Noun Project
Contribute to Allkin on Github
See Allkin in Ukraine on VikaVita
Explore
À la pointe de la typographie, par le Monotype Studio.