Echo of Sappho, Volume 1, Issue 1

Echo of Sappho was an early 1970s lesbian feminist magazine themed around the ancient Greek lyric poet Sappho, and it included short stories, opinions, current events, advice, and other various columns and information "for lesbians, feminists, and men who wish to free themselves from sexism." Its publication coincided with the Gay and Women's liberation movements in New York City, during a time of growth for the queer and lesbian community. Radical LQBTQ+ publications like Echo of Sappho were created by small groups for a marginalized audience and therefore were often made with non-traditional techniques. 

For context, this issue was released during the same year as Massimo Vignelli’s Modernist map of the New York City Metro System. Simplified, geometric designs with sans-serif typefaces were the surfacing trend, valued in the professional design world. Already existing on the margins of society, the creator(s) of Echo of Sappho didn’t even attempt to fit the existing visual language of the design world at the time. 

On this cover, and throughout the issue, all text is either done by hand or typewritten. As can be seen throughout history, writing systems evolve with material as well as need. By the 1970s, the majority of magazine writing was exclusively machine printed, laid out by career designers in various typefaces, but with no existing mainstream for queer writing, the need of magazines like Echo of Sappho had to be satisfied by what was available. By existing as an organized, printed piece of work whose writing systems are uniquely characteristic of being done by human hands, this magazine subverted the standards of mass print media, further aligning the physical appearance of the words on the page with their message of nonconformity, independence, and human connection.